On Monday, the Venezuelan government published a decree granting broad powers to the presidency and ordering security forces to apprehend “any person involved in promoting or supporting” the U.S. attack against the South American country.
The document, dated Saturday, was signed by the ousted President Nicolás Maduro, who was captured by U.S. military forces and is currently imprisoned in New York.
“National, state, and municipal law enforcement agencies must immediately conduct searches and arrests across the national territory of any person involved in promoting or supporting the armed attack by the United States of America against the territory of the Republic (…) for the purpose of criminal prosecution,” the text reads, approved by acting President Delcy Rodríguez.
The decree had been prepared and announced at the end of September, several weeks after the deployment of U.S. naval forces in the Caribbean, but its contents were previously unknown as they were updated following weekend events. The measure carries the force of law and will remain in effect for 90 days, with a possible extension of another 90 days.
Venezuela’s Constitution stipulates that, in a state of emergency, a decree grants the president nearly full political, economic, and social powers over the country. This is the first time this provision has been used since the current Constitution was adopted in 1999, which states it can be enacted in the event of a conflict that “seriously threatens the security of the nation, its citizens, or its institutions.”
