LatinNews Daily Report - 21 December 2012

POLITICS | TSJ president suggests wiggle room for Chávez. The president of Venezuela’s supreme court of justice (TSJ), Luisa Estella Morales, yesterday appeared to hint at some room for manoeuvre over the presidential investiture date, which in the 1999 constitution is clearly stated as 10 January. “Remember that the constitution has as its transversal axis popular participation, a very important fact, and right, when it comes to evaluating a constitutional matter”, she stated. Her comments closely echoed those of national assembly president, Diosdado Cabello, who earlier this week speculated that the cancer-struck President Hugo Chávez, who was handily re-elected for a fourth consecutive term in October, could delay his investiture beyond the constitutionally scheduled date. “You can’t tie the will of the people to one date. If you didn’t do it that day, doesn’t the will of 8m people count?” Cabello asked rhetorically. Under the constitution the president-elect can swear-in before the national assembly or alternatively before the TSJ. There is now even some speculation that the TSJ might decamp to the Venezuelan embassy in Havana, Cuba, to allow Chávez to swear-in there. Yesterday Vice-President Nicolás Maduro said that Chávez was “conscious”.