Caracas: Venezuela's Supreme Court took over legislative powers on Thursday from the opposition-majority National Assembly, whose speaker accused leftist President Nicolas Maduro of staging a "coup."
The ruling is a dramatic tightening of Maduro and his allies' grip on power amid a devastating economic crisis in the South American oil giant, where a three-year recession has caused food shortages, riots and an epidemic of violent crime.
The high court, whose judges have staunchly backed Maduro in a power struggle with the legislature, made the decision late Wednesday night, citing an earlier ruling that the opposition majority was in contempt of court.
"As long as the National Assembly's contempt of court and invalidity persist, parliamentary powers shall be exercised directly by (the Supreme Court's) constitutional chamber or by the body it designates to safeguard the rule of law," it said.
The speaker of the National Assembly, Julio Borges, called the ruling "rubbish."
"Nicolas Maduro has staged a coup in Venezuela," he said in a fiery speech outside the National Assembly.
He urged the army, which has thus far supported Maduro, to take a stand.
"The Venezuelan armed forces cannot remain silent," he said, appealing to soldiers who are also suffering through what he called the "drama" of the economic crisis.
Political analysts said the ruling amounted to an attack on democracy.
"This week we have regrettably advanced toward an authoritarian model in Venezuelan politics. Democracy is in danger," said Venezuelan analyst Carlos Romero.
"We're talking about an indiscriminate and illegal use of the Supreme Court's powers to do away with the legislative branch."
The court's argument cited its own ruling in January 2016 that the National Assembly leadership was in contempt for swearing in three lawmakers who were banned over alleged electoral fraud.
The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) condemns the fraud charges as a trumped-up bid to curb its power after it won a landslide in legislative elections in December 2015 with a promise to oust Maduro.
The elections forced the president and his allies in the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) to share power for the first time since its founder, the late Hugo Chavez, launched Venezuela on the path of a leftist "revolution" in 1999.
But the Supreme Court scuttled the opposition's powerful two-thirds majority when it suspended the three investigated lawmakers.
Since then, the court has overturned every law passed by the legislature.
The ruling came a day after the Organisation of American States (OAS) held a special meeting where 20 countries voiced concern about the situation in Venezuela, drawing a furious reaction from Maduro.
The meeting was the international community's latest effort to get to grips with Venezuela's unravelling, which has the rest of Latin America increasingly worried.
"There's a reason why this happened in the wake of the OAS meeting," said Latin America specialist Christopher Sabatini of Columbia University in New York.
"It's a giant middle finger to the OAS," he told AFP. "They're like, 'You know what? Screw you.'"
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court stripped lawmakers of their legislative immunity, clearing the way for them to face prosecution.
Maduro has accused opposition lawmakers of treason for asking the OAS to consider suspending Venezuela for violating democratic norms.
Treason carries a prison sentence of up to 30 years in Venezuela.
The court's sweeping expansion of its own powers came midway through a ruling on the law governing Venezuela's state-run oil industry.
Under the law, the government needs the legislature's approval to launch joint ventures with private oil companies.
The court ruled that the National Assembly's "legislative omission" left it no choice but to take over congressional powers itself.
The stakes are potentially enormous for the struggling state oil company, PDVSA, where debts have soared and production has plunged amid a sharp decline in global oil prices since 2014.
Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves, but the price collapse has laid bare its overwhelming dependence on its chief export.
Lacking the oil dollars it once used to import nearly everything else, the country has been hit by severe shortages of food, medicine and basic goods like deodourant and toilet paper.
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