Special Report: How a defrocked judge became the chief legal enforcer for Maduro's VenezuelaCARACAS (Reuters) - Last March, Chief Justice Maikel Moreno shocked Venezuela when his Supreme Court nullified the powers of the National Assembly and transferred them to the 32-judge tribunal. Even in a country used to political upheaval, the decision triggered major protests, forcing Moreno to roll back much of the move three days later. But the power play illustrated Moreno s role as enforcer for the embattled administration of President Nicolas Maduro, now branded a dictatorship by a growing number of governments, from France and the United States to South American neighbors Colombia and Peru. The 51-year-old bodyguard-turned-judge and his court have overruled virtually every major law passed by the opposition-led assembly. Moreno s past, however, remains unknown even to most Venezuelans. To trace his ascent, Reuters examined documents and interviewed associates, colleagues and friends of the chief justice in five countries.  The picture that emerges is of a jurist who, by leveraging personal connections and handling politically sensitive cases that other lawyers and judges rejected, endeared himself to Maduro and fellow members of the late Hugo Chavez s  Bolivarian Revolution.  In his rise to Venezuela s top judicial perch, Moreno left behind a past that includes allegations he participated in extortion and influence-peddling rackets and his arrest in 1989 on suspicions of killing a teenager, according to government documents and people familiar with his history. Reuters found no evidence Moreno was ever tried or convicted of any criminal charges. In a brief text-message exchange with Reuters on Nov. 7, Moreno said the allegations of jail time, long rumored in Venezuela, were  invented  by sensationalists. He offered to give Reuters an interview, but then did not respond to requests to schedule one. He did not respond to additional questions by text about his career or other episodes in which he was accused of wrongdoing. Neither the Supreme Court nor Maduro s government responded to separate requests for comment. Documents including a 2006 intelligence report by the Supreme Court s security division and a high court ruling against Moreno last decade point to episodes in which Moreno was accused of being on the wrong side of the law   from the 1989 shooting to his ouster as a lower court judge in 2007 for what the high court said was the improper release of two murder suspects. Opponents of the Maduro government say Moreno is instrumental in propping up an administration that is increasingly authoritarian. In recent months, the top court has sentenced five opposition mayors to prison. It approved the ouster of Venezuela s chief prosecutor, who fled the country in mid-August, joining a growing exodus of Maduro critics. In May, Moreno s court gave the green light for Maduro to proceed with the election that created the Constituent Assembly, a legislature that now supersedes the National Assembly and cemented for many the country s tilt toward authoritarian rule. At least 125 people died in four months of protests that ensued after the court sought in March to neuter the assembly.  The greatest affront to the people is to put a criminal in charge of the judicial system,  said Luis Velazquez, a former Venezuelan judge who investigated Moreno on behalf of the Supreme Court a decade before Maduro appointed Moreno to run the top bench. During his investigation, Velazquez says he found an arrest record for Moreno after the 1989 shooting death of the teen and investigated a phone call in which another judge in a separate case recorded Moreno allegedly pressuring him to release a suspected arms and drug trafficker. The chief justice is not the first senior Venezuelan official to be accused of abuse of power.  The U.S. government earlier this year accused Vice President Tareck El Aissami of drug trafficking. It sanctioned Maduro himself for having  deliberately and repeatedly abused the rights of citizens  with repressive tactics. And it sanctioned Moreno and seven other Supreme Court justices for allegedly usurping the legislature and  restricting the rights and thwarting the will of the Venezuelan people.  Venezuela s government has dismissed the accusations and criticized the sanctions, which bar Americans from engaging in business with any of the officials and freezes any assets the officials may have in U.S. jurisdictions. El Aissami, the vice president, denied ties to the drug trade and slammed the United States on Twitter for  miserable provocations  and  vile aggression.   Under Chavez and now Maduro, the economy has cratered and social stability has ruptured in a country that was once one of Latin America s most prosperous and still boasts the world s largest proven oil reserves. After an October vote in which Maduro s Socialist party candidates swept a majority of gubernatorial elections, the president dismissed accusations of fraud and defended the legitimacy of his government.   I am not a dictator,  Maduro said.  I have a moustache and look like Stalin, but I m not him.  Little in the public record exists about Moreno s youth. He was born on New Year s Eve, 1965, in the eastern city of El Tigre, according to public tax and electoral documents. In the late 1980s, court, intelligence and newspaper records show he worked as a bodyguard for then-President Carlos Andres Perez. It is not clear how he became a bodyguard or joined the president s security detail. That era in Venezuela, marked by food shortages and high inflation similar to the conditions roiling the country now, set the stage for the eventual entry of Chavez, a disgruntled leftist Army officer, into power. With anger and hardship mounting, riots erupted in 1989. Hundreds of people died.  On the evening of April 26, Moreno and two other Perez bodyguards were in Parque Central, a working-class neighborhood of Caracas, the capital, according to an account two days later in El Nacional, a national newspaper. For reasons that are not clear, a brawl broke out. Ruben Gil, a 19-year-old student, entered the fray with a baseball bat, the newspaper said. The bodyguards opened fire, shooting Gil dead.  Presidential Bodyguards Kill Youth,  read the front-page headline, above a picture of Gil s weeping mother, Carmen Romelia Marquez de Gomez. Police arrested Moreno, according to the newspaper account, people familiar with the incident and an intelligence report prepared a decade ago by the security division of Venezuela s Supreme Court. A mugshot from his arrest, included in the report and dated the week after the killing, shows Moreno was arrested for  homicide.  The Supreme Court commissioned the report, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, in 2006. The 32-member court was already aligned with the leftist government by then, because of appointments made by Chavez, but several judges there had begun to question Moreno s rulings as a lower court judge. The report, which has never before been made public, was signed by Luis Enrique Villoria Garcia, director general of the court s security division at the time. Reuters was unable to reach Villoria to discuss the report. One page appears to be missing from the 19-page copy reviewed by Reuters. But details from the report regarding the homicide and Moreno s removal from the bench in 2007 were independently verified by people familiar with its contents. Those people include one senior government official, three former Supreme Court judges and three former senior intelligence officials. Important details about the homicide and Moreno s arrest remain unclear. Notably, Reuters was unable to find a paper trail documenting whether Moreno was tried, sentenced or imprisoned. The Supreme Court report says he was jailed until sometime in 1990, and cites a criminal case number for a homicide charge against him, 522755, but Reuters could not find any files associated with the case. A security guard at Lebrun, a central judicial archive in Caracas, would not grant Reuters access to records there. The Supreme Court did not respond to requests seeking permission to search the archive. Gil s mother died a decade ago, according to people close to the family. Two people close to Gil told Reuters that witnesses and family members at the time of the brawl said Moreno fired the shot that killed the 19-year-old. These people, who requested anonymity, saying they were afraid of reprisals, said Gil had been a gang member and that an existing, but unspecified rivalry with Moreno had sparked the brawl. One person, who says he saw Gil s body in a Caracas morgue, said the young man was shot in the back. Gil s death certificate, reviewed by Reuters, cites gunshot as the cause of death. Three people close to the family said legal proceedings followed Gil s death, but none of them knew what became of the case.  I have wanted to denounce him for years, but I have been too scared,  one of these people said.  Moreno has never publicly denied, confirmed or discussed shooting Gil. He told friends and colleagues the killing was in self-defense, according to a person close to Moreno who spoke on condition of anonymity. Another person, who also asked not to be named, told Reuters that Moreno said any fallout from the killing had been  resolved.  At some point in 1990, according to the intelligence report, Moreno was released from jail. It said he had received  an illegally granted procedural benefit  but gave no further details about his release. In the text exchange with Reuters, Moreno disputed the assertion of jail time, saying it and the other details from the report  are not true either.  He did not clarify or directly address other specifics from the report.  Once free, Moreno pursued a law degree at Santa Maria University, in Caracas. He worked as a bailiff while he studied, according to his official biography. While Moreno studied, Chavez in 1992 led a failed coup attempt against Perez s increasingly unpopular government. Chavez was jailed, but freed in 1994 thanks to the work of Cilia Flores, a firebrand attorney fond of leftist causes. In the next decade, Flores became a close aide of Chavez and the head of the National Assembly. She was also a friend of Moreno. It is not clear how she knew him, but Flores years before had also studied law at Santa Maria. The government did not respond to Reuters requests to speak with Flores. Reuters could not reach her outside government channels. Completing his law degree in 1995, Moreno worked for two years as an attorney before taking a job as a legal advisor at Corporacion Alas de Venezuela C.A., a holding company for Venezuelan airline Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela. By that time, Chavez had won increasing support from working-class Venezuelans and was on track to win the 1998 presidential election. Moreno was already bragging about his close ties to Flores and other ascendant Chavistas.  He made sure everyone knew about that relationship,  said Nelson Ramiz, who owned Aeropostal but gave up control of the airline and moved to Miami in 2007 after a dispute with regulators. After three years at the airline, Moreno worked as a legal advisor to the metropolitan police in Sucre, a district of Caracas. He also began advising the National Assembly and became an auxiliary judge for a district in the country s northeast. For the rest of the 1990s, Moreno alternated between work as an attorney and judge, sometimes wearing both hats at nearly the same time. It is not unusual for some attorneys in Venezuela to also work as judges. But Moreno s choice of cases sometimes created what critics saw as conflicts of interest. In one episode, he defended a suspect in a high-profile homicide trial and later, as judge, heard related charges against another suspect.  Both cases stemmed from shooting deaths that occurred during a short-lived coup against Chavez in April 2002. During the coup, gunfire erupted as opposition supporters marched toward Miraflores Palace, seat of the presidency. Witnesses later said they saw rooftop snipers, gunmen on a bridge and gun-wielding police officers during the shooting.  By the time the violence ended, 19 people were dead. Basic facts of the event, which fueled years of controversy and trials, are still disputed by critics and supporters of the Chavez and Maduro governments. Richard Penalver, a government supporter accused of being one of the shooters, hired Moreno as his defense lawyer. In 2003, Moreno secured Penalver s acquittal, a victory for the pro-government camp. Shortly thereafter, this time as pre-trial judge, Moreno agreed to hear whether a case should proceed against Ivan Simonovis, a former Caracas police commissioner who faced charges related to four of the deaths. Government opponents argued that the charges were manipulated and that Simonovis was being made a scapegoat. They also perceived a conflict for Moreno because of his recent role in clearing Penalver. Although the defense asked Moreno to recuse himself, according to one of the attorneys and a Simonovis family member, Moreno refused. He sent the case to trial, where Simonovis was convicted the following year and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Simonovis, now serving time under house arrest because of an illness, is not allowed under the terms of his sentence to discuss the case with Reuters. Few other judges were willing to hear such a polarizing case.  None of us wanted to take on political cases,  one former Supreme Court justice told Reuters.  Maikel did, though, to ingratiate himself  with the Chavez government. At the time, Moreno was getting ever closer to crucial powerbrokers, especially Flores and her longtime boyfriend - Chavez s confidante and future successor, Maduro. The judge and the power couple grew to have regular contact, the former justice said. Moreno began throwing his weight around with other judges. In 2004, Caracas judge Luis Melendez recorded a telephone conversation in which Moreno said he was phoning at the behest of Jose Vicente Rangel, Venezuela s vice president at the time. Disturbed by a prior call from Moreno, Melendez taped the follow-up conversation and gave the recording to internal inspectors of the national judiciary. In the recording, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, Moreno is heard pressuring Melendez to release Saul Cordero, a suspected criminal charged at the time with drug and arms trafficking. Reuters also reviewed a transcript of the call printed on Supreme Court letterhead during its investigation of Moreno in 2006.  The important thing is for him to be out,  Moreno told Melendez.  Do what needs to be done.  The senior government official and one other person familiar with the recording said it was authentic. It is not clear whether Melendez released Cordero. But Cordero was never tried on the charges and eventually was named a police chief by a pro-government mayor in the municipality of Caroni. Reuters could not reach Cordero, Melendez or Rangel for comment. By 2006, word of the phone call and of Moreno s controversial role in the 2002 shooting trials was increasingly well-known in judicial circles, according to several judges, attorneys and other officials active at the time. The Supreme Court ordered its security division to investigate.  The resulting intelligence report unearthed allegations that helped derail Moreno s first stint as a judge. The report, for instance, held that Moreno s efforts to affect judicial outcomes went beyond pressuring colleagues. It cited testimony by numerous witnesses alleging Moreno took part in an extortion ring   known as  Los Enanos,  or  the Dwarves    that secured payments from defendants in exchange for lenient sentences or acquittals. Moreno was never charged for anything related to the alleged extortion. But his behavior, the report warned, was a threat to the courts, to Chavez and to  the revolution.  In 2007, the Supreme Court found Moreno in contempt of the tribunal and defrocked him as an appeals court judge. Citing  grave and inexcusable errors,  the high court found Moreno had improperly released two murder suspects, according to its ruling. Reuters could not determine on what grounds Moreno had released the two suspects.  Despite his ouster, Moreno remained calm, according to people who spoke with him at the time. Allies like Maduro, whom Chavez had just named foreign minister, would help him.  Maduro and Cilia will protect me,  Moreno told Ramiz, according to the former airline owner s recollection of a conversation with Moreno shortly after the dismissal. The two had remained friendly after Moreno left Aeropostal. Almost immediately, Maduro sent Moreno to a diplomatic post in Rome. After a year, Maduro sent Moreno to Trinidad and Tobago, a Caribbean country much closer to home, where he held a commercial post with the Venezuelan embassy until 2010. Moreno then returned to Caracas and studied for a doctorate. Chavez, stricken by cancer, died in March 2013. Maduro, by then vice president, succeeded Chavez the following month. Weeks later, he married Flores, making her first lady. With his allies firmly in power, Moreno revived a judicial career that three senior judges said would have remained moribund without such connections, given Moreno s arrest in the 1989 killing and his later ouster from the court system. The country s 1999 constitution, rewritten by Chavez, stipulates the head of the Supreme Court be of  good repute.  In 2014, Maduro named Moreno, with a fresh doctorate in constitutional law, to the top court. Since then, Moreno s influence has only grown. In February 2017, Maduro named him chief justice, outraging critics, including Gabriela Ramirez, the national ombudsman at the time. Ramirez unsuccessfully sought to derail the appointment, citing to senior officials Moreno s ouster from the appeals court. Under Moreno as chief justice, the court proceeded to dismiss every legal challenge to Maduro s authority that has reached the bench.  worldnews
special report how defrocked judge became chief legal enforcer maduro venezuelacaracas reuters last march chief justice make moreno shocked venezuela supreme court nullified powers national assembly transferred tribunal even country used political upheaval decision triggered major protests forcing moreno roll back much move three days later but power play illustrated moreno role enforcer embattled administration president nicolas maduro branded dictatorship growing number governments france united states south american neighbors colombia peru the court overruled virtually every major law passed assembly moreno past however remains unknown even venezuela to trace ascent reuters examined documents interviewed associates colleagues friends chief justice five countries the picture emerges jurist averaging personal connections handling politically sensitive cases lawyers judges rejected entered maduro fellow members late hugo chavez bolivarian revolution in rise venezuela top judicial perch moreno left behind past includes allegations participated extortion brackets arrest suspicions killing teenager according government documents people familiar history reuters found evidence moreno ever tried convicted criminal charges in brief exchange reuters moreno said allegations jail time long rumored venezuela invented sensationalists he offered give reuters interview respond requests schedule one he respond additional questions text career episodes accused wrongdoing neither supreme court maduro government responded separate requests comment documents including intelligence report supreme court security division high court ruling moreno last decade point episodes moreno accused wrong side law shooting ouster lower court judge high court said improper release two murder suspects opponents maduro government say moreno instrumental dropping administration increasingly authoritarian in recent months top court sentenced five opposition mayors prison it approved ouster venezuela chief prosecutor fled country joining growing exodus maduro critics in may moreno court gave green light maduro proceed election created constituent assembly legislature superseded national assembly cemented many country tilt toward authoritarian rule at least people died four months protests ensued court sought march neuter assembly the greatest front people put criminal charge judicial system said luis velazquez former venezuela judge investigated moreno behalf supreme court decade maduro appointed moreno run top bench during investigation velazquez says found arrest record moreno shooting death teen investigated phone call another judge separate case recorded moreno allegedly pressing release suspected arms drug traffickers the chief justice first senior venezuela official accused abuse power the government earlier year accused vice president track el assam drug trafficking it sanctioned maduro deliberately repeatedly abused rights citizens repressive tactics and sanctioned moreno seven supreme court justices allegedly surfing legislature restricting rights charting venezuela people venezuela government dismissed accusations criticized sanctions bar americans engaging business officials freezes assets officials may jurisdictions el assam vice president denied ties drug trade slammed united states twitter miserable provocation vile aggression under chavez maduro economy catered social stability ruptured country one latin america prosperous still boasts world largest proven oil reserves after october vote maduro socialist party candidates swept majority gubernatorial elections president dismissed accusations fraud defended legitimacy government i dictator maduro said i moustache look like stain i little public record exists moreno youth he born new year eve eastern city el tigre according public tax electoral documents in late court intelligence newspaper records show worked bodyguard carlos andres perez it clear became bodyguard joined president security detail that era venezuela marked food shortages high inflation similar conditions rolling country set stage eventual entry chavez disgruntled leftist army officer power with anger hardship mounting riots erupted hundreds people died on evening april moreno two perez bodyguards parque central neighborhood cracks capital according account two days later el nacional national newspaper for reasons clear brawl broke ruben gil student entered fray baseball bat newspaper said the bodyguards opened fire shooting gil dead presidential bodyguards kill youth read headline picture gil weeping mother carmen romania marque de gomez police arrested moreno according newspaper account people familiar incident intelligence report prepared decade ago security division venezuela supreme court a mugshot arrest included report dated week killing shows moreno arrested homicide the supreme court commissioned report copy reviewed reuters the court already aligned leftist government appointments made chavez several judges begun question moreno rulings lower court judge the report never made public signed luis enrique victoria garcia director general court security division time reuters unable reach victoria discuss report one page appears missing copy reviewed reuters but details report regarding homicide moreno removal bench independently verified people familiar contents those people include one senior government official three former supreme court judges three former senior intelligence officials important details homicide moreno arrest remain unclear notably reuters unable find paper trail documenting whether moreno tried sentenced imprisoned the supreme court report says jailed sometime cites criminal case number homicide charge reuters could find files associated case a security guard learn central judicial archive cracks would grant reuters access records the supreme court respond requests seeking permission search archive gil mother died decade ago according people close family two people close gil told reuters witnesses family members time brawl said moreno fired shot killed these people requested anonymity saying afraid reprisals said gil gang member existing unspecified rivalry moreno sparked brawl one person says saw gil body cracks morgue said young man shot back gil death certificate reviewed reuters cites gunshot cause death three people close family said legal proceedings followed gil death none knew became case i wanted denounce years i scared one people said moreno never publicly denied confirmed discussed shooting gil he told friends colleagues killing according person close moreno spoke condition anonymity another person also asked named told reuters moreno said fallout killing resolved at point according intelligence report moreno released jail it said received illegally granted procedural benefit gave details release in text exchange reuters moreno disputed assertion jail time saying details report true either he clarify directly address specifics report once free moreno pursued law degree santa maria university cracks he worked bailiff studied according official biography while moreno studied chavez led failed coup attempt perez increasingly unpopular government chavez jailed freed thanks work cilia flores rebrand attorney fond leftist causes in next decade flores became close aide chavez head national assembly she also friend moreno it clear knew flores years also studied law santa maria the government respond reuters requests speak flores reuters could reach outside government channels completing law degree moreno worked two years attorney taking job legal advisor corporation alas de venezuela holding company venezuela airline aeropostal alas de venezuela by time chavez increasing support venezuela track win presidential election moreno already bragging close ties flores descendant chavistas he made sure everyone knew relationship said nelson radio owned aeropostal gave control airline moved miami dispute regulators after three years airline moreno worked legal advisor metropolitan police sure district cracks he also began advising national assembly became auxiliary judge district country northeast for rest moreno alternated work attorney judge sometimes wearing hats nearly time it unusual attorneys venezuela also work judges but moreno choice cases sometimes created critics saw conflicts interest in one episode defended suspect homicide trial later judge heard related charges another suspect both cases stemmed shooting deaths occurred coup chavez april during coup gunfire erupted opposition supporters marched toward miraflores palace seat presidency witnesses later said saw rooftop snipers gunmen bridge police officers shooting by time violence ended people dead basic facts event fueled years controversy trials still disputed critics supporters chavez maduro governments richard pendler government supporter accused one shooters hired moreno defense lawyer in moreno secured pendler acquittal victory camp shortly thereafter time judge moreno agreed hear whether case proceed ivan simonovis former cracks police commissioner faced charges related four deaths government opponents argued charges manipulated simonovis made scapegoat they also perceived conflict moreno recent role clearing pendler although defense asked moreno recuse according one attorneys simonovis family member moreno refused he sent case trial simonovis convicted following year sentenced years prison simonovis serving time house arrest illness allowed terms sentence discuss case reuters few judges willing hear popularizing case none us wanted take political cases one former supreme court justice told reuters make though ingratiate chavez government at time moreno getting ever closer crucial powerbrokers especially flores longtime boyfriend chavez confidant future successor maduro the judge power couple grew regular contact former justice said moreno began throwing weight around judges in cracks judge luis melendez recorded telephone conversation moreno said showing behest jose license range venezuela vice president time disturbed prior call moreno melendez taped conversation gave recording internal inspectors national judiciary in recording copy reviewed reuters moreno heard pressing melendez release saul border suspected criminal charged time drug arms trafficking reuters also reviewed transcript call printed supreme court lettered investigation moreno the important thing moreno told melendez do needs done the senior government official one person familiar recording said authentic it clear whether melendez released border but border never tried charges eventually named police chief mayor municipality carbon reuters could reach border melendez range comment by word phone call moreno controversial role shooting trials increasingly judicial circles according several judges attorneys officials active time the supreme court ordered security division investigate the resulting intelligence report unearthed allegations helped derail moreno first stint judge the report instance held moreno efforts affect judicial outcomes went beyond pressing colleagues it cited testimony numerous witnesses alleging moreno took part extortion ring known los tenants dwarves secured payments defendants exchange lenient sentences acquittal moreno never charged anything related alleged extortion but behavior report warned threat courts chavez revolution in supreme court found moreno contempt tribunal defrocked appeals court judge citing grave inexcusable errors high court found moreno improperly released two murder suspects according ruling reuters could determine grounds moreno released two suspects despite ouster moreno remained calm according people spoke time allies like maduro chavez named foreign minister would help maduro cilia protect moreno told radio according former airline owner recollection conversation moreno shortly dismissal the two remained friendly moreno left aeropostal almost immediately maduro sent moreno diplomatic post rome after year maduro sent moreno trinidad tobacco caribbean country much closer home held commercial post venezuela embassy moreno returned cracks studied doctorate chavez stricken cancer died march maduro vice president succeeded chavez following month weeks later married flores making first lady with allies firmly power moreno revived judicial career three senior judges said would remained moribund without connections given moreno arrest killing later ouster court system the country constitution rewritten chavez stipulates head supreme court good repute in maduro named moreno fresh doctorate constitutional law top court since moreno influence grown in february maduro named chief justice outraging critics including gabriel ramirez national ombudsman time ramirez unsuccessfully sought derail appointment citing senior officials moreno ouster appeals court under moreno chief justice court proceeded dismiss every legal challenge maduro authority reached bench worldnews
Your task is to classify the provided input as real or fake news. Label 0 is meant for fake news, Label 1 is for real news. TEXT: Special Report: How a defrocked judge became the chief legal enforcer for Maduro's VenezuelaCARACAS (Reuters) - Last March, Chief Justice Maikel Moreno shocked Venezuela when his Supreme Court nullified the powers of the National Assembly and transferred them to the 32-judge tribunal. Even in a country used to political upheaval, the decision triggered major protests, forcing Moreno to roll back much of the move three days later. But the power play illustrated Moreno s role as enforcer for the embattled administration of President Nicolas Maduro, now branded a dictatorship by a growing number of governments, from France and the United States to South American neighbors Colombia and Peru. The 51-year-old bodyguard-turned-judge and his court have overruled virtually every major law passed by the opposition-led assembly. Moreno s past, however, remains unknown even to most Venezuelans. To trace his ascent, Reuters examined documents and interviewed associates, colleagues and friends of the chief justice in five countries.  The picture that emerges is of a jurist who, by leveraging personal connections and handling politically sensitive cases that other lawyers and judges rejected, endeared himself to Maduro and fellow members of the late Hugo Chavez s  Bolivarian Revolution.  In his rise to Venezuela s top judicial perch, Moreno left behind a past that includes allegations he participated in extortion and influence-peddling rackets and his arrest in 1989 on suspicions of killing a teenager, according to government documents and people familiar with his history. Reuters found no evidence Moreno was ever tried or convicted of any criminal charges. In a brief text-message exchange with Reuters on Nov. 7, Moreno said the allegations of jail time, long rumored in Venezuela, were  invented  by sensationalists. He offered to give Reuters an interview, but then did not respond to requests to schedule one. He did not respond to additional questions by text about his career or other episodes in which he was accused of wrongdoing. Neither the Supreme Court nor Maduro s government responded to separate requests for comment. Documents including a 2006 intelligence report by the Supreme Court s security division and a high court ruling against Moreno last decade point to episodes in which Moreno was accused of being on the wrong side of the law   from the 1989 shooting to his ouster as a lower court judge in 2007 for what the high court said was the improper release of two murder suspects. Opponents of the Maduro government say Moreno is instrumental in propping up an administration that is increasingly authoritarian. In recent months, the top court has sentenced five opposition mayors to prison. It approved the ouster of Venezuela s chief prosecutor, who fled the country in mid-August, joining a growing exodus of Maduro critics. In May, Moreno s court gave the green light for Maduro to proceed with the election that created the Constituent Assembly, a legislature that now supersedes the National Assembly and cemented for many the country s tilt toward authoritarian rule. At least 125 people died in four months of protests that ensued after the court sought in March to neuter the assembly.  The greatest affront to the people is to put a criminal in charge of the judicial system,  said Luis Velazquez, a former Venezuelan judge who investigated Moreno on behalf of the Supreme Court a decade before Maduro appointed Moreno to run the top bench. During his investigation, Velazquez says he found an arrest record for Moreno after the 1989 shooting death of the teen and investigated a phone call in which another judge in a separate case recorded Moreno allegedly pressuring him to release a suspected arms and drug trafficker. The chief justice is not the first senior Venezuelan official to be accused of abuse of power.  The U.S. government earlier this year accused Vice President Tareck El Aissami of drug trafficking. It sanctioned Maduro himself for having  deliberately and repeatedly abused the rights of citizens  with repressive tactics. And it sanctioned Moreno and seven other Supreme Court justices for allegedly usurping the legislature and  restricting the rights and thwarting the will of the Venezuelan people.  Venezuela s government has dismissed the accusations and criticized the sanctions, which bar Americans from engaging in business with any of the officials and freezes any assets the officials may have in U.S. jurisdictions. El Aissami, the vice president, denied ties to the drug trade and slammed the United States on Twitter for  miserable provocations  and  vile aggression.   Under Chavez and now Maduro, the economy has cratered and social stability has ruptured in a country that was once one of Latin America s most prosperous and still boasts the world s largest proven oil reserves. After an October vote in which Maduro s Socialist party candidates swept a majority of gubernatorial elections, the president dismissed accusations of fraud and defended the legitimacy of his government.   I am not a dictator,  Maduro said.  I have a moustache and look like Stalin, but I m not him.  Little in the public record exists about Moreno s youth. He was born on New Year s Eve, 1965, in the eastern city of El Tigre, according to public tax and electoral documents. In the late 1980s, court, intelligence and newspaper records show he worked as a bodyguard for then-President Carlos Andres Perez. It is not clear how he became a bodyguard or joined the president s security detail. That era in Venezuela, marked by food shortages and high inflation similar to the conditions roiling the country now, set the stage for the eventual entry of Chavez, a disgruntled leftist Army officer, into power. With anger and hardship mounting, riots erupted in 1989. Hundreds of people died.  On the evening of April 26, Moreno and two other Perez bodyguards were in Parque Central, a working-class neighborhood of Caracas, the capital, according to an account two days later in El Nacional, a national newspaper. For reasons that are not clear, a brawl broke out. Ruben Gil, a 19-year-old student, entered the fray with a baseball bat, the newspaper said. The bodyguards opened fire, shooting Gil dead.  Presidential Bodyguards Kill Youth,  read the front-page headline, above a picture of Gil s weeping mother, Carmen Romelia Marquez de Gomez. Police arrested Moreno, according to the newspaper account, people familiar with the incident and an intelligence report prepared a decade ago by the security division of Venezuela s Supreme Court. A mugshot from his arrest, included in the report and dated the week after the killing, shows Moreno was arrested for  homicide.  The Supreme Court commissioned the report, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, in 2006. The 32-member court was already aligned with the leftist government by then, because of appointments made by Chavez, but several judges there had begun to question Moreno s rulings as a lower court judge. The report, which has never before been made public, was signed by Luis Enrique Villoria Garcia, director general of the court s security division at the time. Reuters was unable to reach Villoria to discuss the report. One page appears to be missing from the 19-page copy reviewed by Reuters. But details from the report regarding the homicide and Moreno s removal from the bench in 2007 were independently verified by people familiar with its contents. Those people include one senior government official, three former Supreme Court judges and three former senior intelligence officials. Important details about the homicide and Moreno s arrest remain unclear. Notably, Reuters was unable to find a paper trail documenting whether Moreno was tried, sentenced or imprisoned. The Supreme Court report says he was jailed until sometime in 1990, and cites a criminal case number for a homicide charge against him, 522755, but Reuters could not find any files associated with the case. A security guard at Lebrun, a central judicial archive in Caracas, would not grant Reuters access to records there. The Supreme Court did not respond to requests seeking permission to search the archive. Gil s mother died a decade ago, according to people close to the family. Two people close to Gil told Reuters that witnesses and family members at the time of the brawl said Moreno fired the shot that killed the 19-year-old. These people, who requested anonymity, saying they were afraid of reprisals, said Gil had been a gang member and that an existing, but unspecified rivalry with Moreno had sparked the brawl. One person, who says he saw Gil s body in a Caracas morgue, said the young man was shot in the back. Gil s death certificate, reviewed by Reuters, cites gunshot as the cause of death. Three people close to the family said legal proceedings followed Gil s death, but none of them knew what became of the case.  I have wanted to denounce him for years, but I have been too scared,  one of these people said.  Moreno has never publicly denied, confirmed or discussed shooting Gil. He told friends and colleagues the killing was in self-defense, according to a person close to Moreno who spoke on condition of anonymity. Another person, who also asked not to be named, told Reuters that Moreno said any fallout from the killing had been  resolved.  At some point in 1990, according to the intelligence report, Moreno was released from jail. It said he had received  an illegally granted procedural benefit  but gave no further details about his release. In the text exchange with Reuters, Moreno disputed the assertion of jail time, saying it and the other details from the report  are not true either.  He did not clarify or directly address other specifics from the report.  Once free, Moreno pursued a law degree at Santa Maria University, in Caracas. He worked as a bailiff while he studied, according to his official biography. While Moreno studied, Chavez in 1992 led a failed coup attempt against Perez s increasingly unpopular government. Chavez was jailed, but freed in 1994 thanks to the work of Cilia Flores, a firebrand attorney fond of leftist causes. In the next decade, Flores became a close aide of Chavez and the head of the National Assembly. She was also a friend of Moreno. It is not clear how she knew him, but Flores years before had also studied law at Santa Maria. The government did not respond to Reuters requests to speak with Flores. Reuters could not reach her outside government channels. Completing his law degree in 1995, Moreno worked for two years as an attorney before taking a job as a legal advisor at Corporacion Alas de Venezuela C.A., a holding company for Venezuelan airline Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela. By that time, Chavez had won increasing support from working-class Venezuelans and was on track to win the 1998 presidential election. Moreno was already bragging about his close ties to Flores and other ascendant Chavistas.  He made sure everyone knew about that relationship,  said Nelson Ramiz, who owned Aeropostal but gave up control of the airline and moved to Miami in 2007 after a dispute with regulators. After three years at the airline, Moreno worked as a legal advisor to the metropolitan police in Sucre, a district of Caracas. He also began advising the National Assembly and became an auxiliary judge for a district in the country s northeast. For the rest of the 1990s, Moreno alternated between work as an attorney and judge, sometimes wearing both hats at nearly the same time. It is not unusual for some attorneys in Venezuela to also work as judges. But Moreno s choice of cases sometimes created what critics saw as conflicts of interest. In one episode, he defended a suspect in a high-profile homicide trial and later, as judge, heard related charges against another suspect.  Both cases stemmed from shooting deaths that occurred during a short-lived coup against Chavez in April 2002. During the coup, gunfire erupted as opposition supporters marched toward Miraflores Palace, seat of the presidency. Witnesses later said they saw rooftop snipers, gunmen on a bridge and gun-wielding police officers during the shooting.  By the time the violence ended, 19 people were dead. Basic facts of the event, which fueled years of controversy and trials, are still disputed by critics and supporters of the Chavez and Maduro governments. Richard Penalver, a government supporter accused of being one of the shooters, hired Moreno as his defense lawyer. In 2003, Moreno secured Penalver s acquittal, a victory for the pro-government camp. Shortly thereafter, this time as pre-trial judge, Moreno agreed to hear whether a case should proceed against Ivan Simonovis, a former Caracas police commissioner who faced charges related to four of the deaths. Government opponents argued that the charges were manipulated and that Simonovis was being made a scapegoat. They also perceived a conflict for Moreno because of his recent role in clearing Penalver. Although the defense asked Moreno to recuse himself, according to one of the attorneys and a Simonovis family member, Moreno refused. He sent the case to trial, where Simonovis was convicted the following year and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Simonovis, now serving time under house arrest because of an illness, is not allowed under the terms of his sentence to discuss the case with Reuters. Few other judges were willing to hear such a polarizing case.  None of us wanted to take on political cases,  one former Supreme Court justice told Reuters.  Maikel did, though, to ingratiate himself  with the Chavez government. At the time, Moreno was getting ever closer to crucial powerbrokers, especially Flores and her longtime boyfriend - Chavez s confidante and future successor, Maduro. The judge and the power couple grew to have regular contact, the former justice said. Moreno began throwing his weight around with other judges. In 2004, Caracas judge Luis Melendez recorded a telephone conversation in which Moreno said he was phoning at the behest of Jose Vicente Rangel, Venezuela s vice president at the time. Disturbed by a prior call from Moreno, Melendez taped the follow-up conversation and gave the recording to internal inspectors of the national judiciary. In the recording, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, Moreno is heard pressuring Melendez to release Saul Cordero, a suspected criminal charged at the time with drug and arms trafficking. Reuters also reviewed a transcript of the call printed on Supreme Court letterhead during its investigation of Moreno in 2006.  The important thing is for him to be out,  Moreno told Melendez.  Do what needs to be done.  The senior government official and one other person familiar with the recording said it was authentic. It is not clear whether Melendez released Cordero. But Cordero was never tried on the charges and eventually was named a police chief by a pro-government mayor in the municipality of Caroni. Reuters could not reach Cordero, Melendez or Rangel for comment. By 2006, word of the phone call and of Moreno s controversial role in the 2002 shooting trials was increasingly well-known in judicial circles, according to several judges, attorneys and other officials active at the time. The Supreme Court ordered its security division to investigate.  The resulting intelligence report unearthed allegations that helped derail Moreno s first stint as a judge. The report, for instance, held that Moreno s efforts to affect judicial outcomes went beyond pressuring colleagues. It cited testimony by numerous witnesses alleging Moreno took part in an extortion ring   known as  Los Enanos,  or  the Dwarves    that secured payments from defendants in exchange for lenient sentences or acquittals. Moreno was never charged for anything related to the alleged extortion. But his behavior, the report warned, was a threat to the courts, to Chavez and to  the revolution.  In 2007, the Supreme Court found Moreno in contempt of the tribunal and defrocked him as an appeals court judge. Citing  grave and inexcusable errors,  the high court found Moreno had improperly released two murder suspects, according to its ruling. Reuters could not determine on what grounds Moreno had released the two suspects.  Despite his ouster, Moreno remained calm, according to people who spoke with him at the time. Allies like Maduro, whom Chavez had just named foreign minister, would help him.  Maduro and Cilia will protect me,  Moreno told Ramiz, according to the former airline owner s recollection of a conversation with Moreno shortly after the dismissal. The two had remained friendly after Moreno left Aeropostal. Almost immediately, Maduro sent Moreno to a diplomatic post in Rome. After a year, Maduro sent Moreno to Trinidad and Tobago, a Caribbean country much closer to home, where he held a commercial post with the Venezuelan embassy until 2010. Moreno then returned to Caracas and studied for a doctorate. Chavez, stricken by cancer, died in March 2013. Maduro, by then vice president, succeeded Chavez the following month. Weeks later, he married Flores, making her first lady. With his allies firmly in power, Moreno revived a judicial career that three senior judges said would have remained moribund without such connections, given Moreno s arrest in the 1989 killing and his later ouster from the court system. The country s 1999 constitution, rewritten by Chavez, stipulates the head of the Supreme Court be of  good repute.  In 2014, Maduro named Moreno, with a fresh doctorate in constitutional law, to the top court. Since then, Moreno s influence has only grown. In February 2017, Maduro named him chief justice, outraging critics, including Gabriela Ramirez, the national ombudsman at the time. Ramirez unsuccessfully sought to derail the appointment, citing to senior officials Moreno s ouster from the appeals court. Under Moreno as chief justice, the court proceeded to dismiss every legal challenge to Maduro s authority that has reached the bench.  worldnews
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TEXT: special report how defrocked judge became chief legal enforcer maduro venezuelacaracas reuters last march chief justice make moreno shocked venezuela supreme court nullified powers national assembly transferred tribunal even country used political upheaval decision triggered major protests forcing moreno roll back much move three days later but power play illustrated moreno role enforcer embattled administration president nicolas maduro branded dictatorship growing number governments france united states south american neighbors colombia peru the court overruled virtually every major law passed assembly moreno past however remains unknown even venezuela to trace ascent reuters examined documents interviewed associates colleagues friends chief justice five countries the picture emerges jurist averaging personal connections handling politically sensitive cases lawyers judges rejected entered maduro fellow members late hugo chavez bolivarian revolution in rise venezuela top judicial perch moreno left behind past includes allegations participated extortion brackets arrest suspicions killing teenager according government documents people familiar history reuters found evidence moreno ever tried convicted criminal charges in brief exchange reuters moreno said allegations jail time long rumored venezuela invented sensationalists he offered give reuters interview respond requests schedule one he respond additional questions text career episodes accused wrongdoing neither supreme court maduro government responded separate requests comment documents including intelligence report supreme court security division high court ruling moreno last decade point episodes moreno accused wrong side law shooting ouster lower court judge high court said improper release two murder suspects opponents maduro government say moreno instrumental dropping administration increasingly authoritarian in recent months top court sentenced five opposition mayors prison it approved ouster venezuela chief prosecutor fled country joining growing exodus maduro critics in may moreno court gave green light maduro proceed election created constituent assembly legislature superseded national assembly cemented many country tilt toward authoritarian rule at least people died four months protests ensued court sought march neuter assembly the greatest front people put criminal charge judicial system said luis velazquez former venezuela judge investigated moreno behalf supreme court decade maduro appointed moreno run top bench during investigation velazquez says found arrest record moreno shooting death teen investigated phone call another judge separate case recorded moreno allegedly pressing release suspected arms drug traffickers the chief justice first senior venezuela official accused abuse power the government earlier year accused vice president track el assam drug trafficking it sanctioned maduro deliberately repeatedly abused rights citizens repressive tactics and sanctioned moreno seven supreme court justices allegedly surfing legislature restricting rights charting venezuela people venezuela government dismissed accusations criticized sanctions bar americans engaging business officials freezes assets officials may jurisdictions el assam vice president denied ties drug trade slammed united states twitter miserable provocation vile aggression under chavez maduro economy catered social stability ruptured country one latin america prosperous still boasts world largest proven oil reserves after october vote maduro socialist party candidates swept majority gubernatorial elections president dismissed accusations fraud defended legitimacy government i dictator maduro said i moustache look like stain i little public record exists moreno youth he born new year eve eastern city el tigre according public tax electoral documents in late court intelligence newspaper records show worked bodyguard carlos andres perez it clear became bodyguard joined president security detail that era venezuela marked food shortages high inflation similar conditions rolling country set stage eventual entry chavez disgruntled leftist army officer power with anger hardship mounting riots erupted hundreds people died on evening april moreno two perez bodyguards parque central neighborhood cracks capital according account two days later el nacional national newspaper for reasons clear brawl broke ruben gil student entered fray baseball bat newspaper said the bodyguards opened fire shooting gil dead presidential bodyguards kill youth read headline picture gil weeping mother carmen romania marque de gomez police arrested moreno according newspaper account people familiar incident intelligence report prepared decade ago security division venezuela supreme court a mugshot arrest included report dated week killing shows moreno arrested homicide the supreme court commissioned report copy reviewed reuters the court already aligned leftist government appointments made chavez several judges begun question moreno rulings lower court judge the report never made public signed luis enrique victoria garcia director general court security division time reuters unable reach victoria discuss report one page appears missing copy reviewed reuters but details report regarding homicide moreno removal bench independently verified people familiar contents those people include one senior government official three former supreme court judges three former senior intelligence officials important details homicide moreno arrest remain unclear notably reuters unable find paper trail documenting whether moreno tried sentenced imprisoned the supreme court report says jailed sometime cites criminal case number homicide charge reuters could find files associated case a security guard learn central judicial archive cracks would grant reuters access records the supreme court respond requests seeking permission search archive gil mother died decade ago according people close family two people close gil told reuters witnesses family members time brawl said moreno fired shot killed these people requested anonymity saying afraid reprisals said gil gang member existing unspecified rivalry moreno sparked brawl one person says saw gil body cracks morgue said young man shot back gil death certificate reviewed reuters cites gunshot cause death three people close family said legal proceedings followed gil death none knew became case i wanted denounce years i scared one people said moreno never publicly denied confirmed discussed shooting gil he told friends colleagues killing according person close moreno spoke condition anonymity another person also asked named told reuters moreno said fallout killing resolved at point according intelligence report moreno released jail it said received illegally granted procedural benefit gave details release in text exchange reuters moreno disputed assertion jail time saying details report true either he clarify directly address specifics report once free moreno pursued law degree santa maria university cracks he worked bailiff studied according official biography while moreno studied chavez led failed coup attempt perez increasingly unpopular government chavez jailed freed thanks work cilia flores rebrand attorney fond leftist causes in next decade flores became close aide chavez head national assembly she also friend moreno it clear knew flores years also studied law santa maria the government respond reuters requests speak flores reuters could reach outside government channels completing law degree moreno worked two years attorney taking job legal advisor corporation alas de venezuela holding company venezuela airline aeropostal alas de venezuela by time chavez increasing support venezuela track win presidential election moreno already bragging close ties flores descendant chavistas he made sure everyone knew relationship said nelson radio owned aeropostal gave control airline moved miami dispute regulators after three years airline moreno worked legal advisor metropolitan police sure district cracks he also began advising national assembly became auxiliary judge district country northeast for rest moreno alternated work attorney judge sometimes wearing hats nearly time it unusual attorneys venezuela also work judges but moreno choice cases sometimes created critics saw conflicts interest in one episode defended suspect homicide trial later judge heard related charges another suspect both cases stemmed shooting deaths occurred coup chavez april during coup gunfire erupted opposition supporters marched toward miraflores palace seat presidency witnesses later said saw rooftop snipers gunmen bridge police officers shooting by time violence ended people dead basic facts event fueled years controversy trials still disputed critics supporters chavez maduro governments richard pendler government supporter accused one shooters hired moreno defense lawyer in moreno secured pendler acquittal victory camp shortly thereafter time judge moreno agreed hear whether case proceed ivan simonovis former cracks police commissioner faced charges related four deaths government opponents argued charges manipulated simonovis made scapegoat they also perceived conflict moreno recent role clearing pendler although defense asked moreno recuse according one attorneys simonovis family member moreno refused he sent case trial simonovis convicted following year sentenced years prison simonovis serving time house arrest illness allowed terms sentence discuss case reuters few judges willing hear popularizing case none us wanted take political cases one former supreme court justice told reuters make though ingratiate chavez government at time moreno getting ever closer crucial powerbrokers especially flores longtime boyfriend chavez confidant future successor maduro the judge power couple grew regular contact former justice said moreno began throwing weight around judges in cracks judge luis melendez recorded telephone conversation moreno said showing behest jose license range venezuela vice president time disturbed prior call moreno melendez taped conversation gave recording internal inspectors national judiciary in recording copy reviewed reuters moreno heard pressing melendez release saul border suspected criminal charged time drug arms trafficking reuters also reviewed transcript call printed supreme court lettered investigation moreno the important thing moreno told melendez do needs done the senior government official one person familiar recording said authentic it clear whether melendez released border but border never tried charges eventually named police chief mayor municipality carbon reuters could reach border melendez range comment by word phone call moreno controversial role shooting trials increasingly judicial circles according several judges attorneys officials active time the supreme court ordered security division investigate the resulting intelligence report unearthed allegations helped derail moreno first stint judge the report instance held moreno efforts affect judicial outcomes went beyond pressing colleagues it cited testimony numerous witnesses alleging moreno took part extortion ring known los tenants dwarves secured payments defendants exchange lenient sentences acquittal moreno never charged anything related alleged extortion but behavior report warned threat courts chavez revolution in supreme court found moreno contempt tribunal defrocked appeals court judge citing grave inexcusable errors high court found moreno improperly released two murder suspects according ruling reuters could determine grounds moreno released two suspects despite ouster moreno remained calm according people spoke time allies like maduro chavez named foreign minister would help maduro cilia protect moreno told radio according former airline owner recollection conversation moreno shortly dismissal the two remained friendly moreno left aeropostal almost immediately maduro sent moreno diplomatic post rome after year maduro sent moreno trinidad tobacco caribbean country much closer home held commercial post venezuela embassy moreno returned cracks studied doctorate chavez stricken cancer died march maduro vice president succeeded chavez following month weeks later married flores making first lady with allies firmly power moreno revived judicial career three senior judges said would remained moribund without connections given moreno arrest killing later ouster court system the country constitution rewritten chavez stipulates head supreme court good repute in maduro named moreno fresh doctorate constitutional law top court since moreno influence grown in february maduro named chief justice outraging critics including gabriel ramirez national ombudsman time ramirez unsuccessfully sought derail appointment citing senior officials moreno ouster appeals court under moreno chief justice court proceeded dismiss every legal challenge maduro authority 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