Venezuelan processes of Transitional Justice: how far will Chávez be able to go?

Until recent years, Venezuela had rarely occupied the media headlines. Since the coming to power of Hugo Chávez Frías, perhaps the most controversial Latin American political figure since Cuba's Fidel Castro, the country has been under close scrutiny by the international community. Transitional Justice (TJ) -understood as the study of those mechanisms, judicial and non-judicial, employed by communities, states and the international community to deal with a legacy of systematic human rights abuses and authoritarianism in order to promote social reconstruction- has been perceived as important by the Chávez government. However, TJ processes to address past crimes have often been stalled due to the transitional character of the new Republic itself and complicated by both the opposition's control of key government and judicial institutions, and the government's centralization and repolitisation of bureaucracies. Recently, TJ has been moving forward in the past few months as a result of key changes in government institutions, in particular the restructuring of State Security Forces and the judiciary. This paper will explore how TJ would solidify the government's claims of transparency and social justice and would consolidate its claims of establishing a more equitable and egalitarian republic. But will Chávez be able to deliver?