Venezuela Supreme Court judge flees to US to protest Maduro
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A Venezuelan Supreme Court justice and longtime government loyalist who fled the socialist country for a new life in the United States called Nicolas Maduro an incompetent president leading the once-wealthy country to ruins.
Christian Zerpa's embarrassing defection came days before Maduro begins his second term amid calls from critics and the international community to relinquish power.
Zerpa on Monday accused Venezuela's high court of becoming a tool of Maduro's inner circle, lacking any judicial independence since he and a group of ruling party members were appointed to the bench in 2015.
"Nicolas Maduro doesn't know the constitution, and he doesn't know the laws," Zerpa said in a Florida news conference. "This has no other name than a dictatorship."
