The departure of Judge Gladys Gutiérrez raises the issue of who to appoint to fill that vacancy in the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, sources explained.
Gutiérrez received the endorsement of the National Assembly for President Nicolás Maduro to appoint her as ambassador to Spain. The judge held the presidency of the highest court of Venezuela until January of this year.
To replace her within the Constitutional Chamber there is the option of Calixto Ortega, who is the titular magistrate of that instance, appointed by the National Assembly in April 2022. Ortega was on secondment fulfilling the position of permanent ambassador of Venezuela to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the International Criminal Court, among other international organizations and courts based in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
There is also the option of substitutes for the Constitutional Chamber, who are also considered to replace Gutiérrez. They are Olga Álvarez, Jacqueline Sosa and René Degraves. Cristóbal Cornielles, the other substitute, is currently in prison.
