Gladys María Gutiérrez Alvarado (born 16 April 1962) was the head of the Venezuelan Supreme Court from May 2013 until February 2017.

Career and education

Gutierrez studied law at the

Universidad Central de Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in ...

. She became member of the Constitutional Court on 9 December 2010. She was a member of the

Fifth Republic Movement The Fifth Republic Movement (Spanish: ''Movimiento V uintaRepública'', MVR) was a socialist political party in Venezuela. It was founded in July 1997, following a national congress of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, to support the ca ...

, a party that supported Hugo Chávez. She ran for governor of

Nueva Esparta The Nueva Esparta State (in Spanish: ''Estado Nueva Esparta'', ), is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. It comprises Margarita Island, Coche, and the largely uninhabited Cubagua. The state has the smallest area, and is located off the nort ...

as a member of that party in 1998 but lost. In 2003 the central government named Gutiérrez ambassador to Spain. She was also general consul of Venezuela in Spain and director of the Office for the Ministers' Council. From 2006 until 2011, she performed as Head Public Prosecutor of the Republic for former President Hugo Chávez. Gutiérrez has taught law at the Universidad Santiago Mariño and the Instituto Universitario de Tecnología Rodolfo Loero Arismendi. Gutiérrez became president of the Supreme Court in May 2013. Her election was contested by the opposition.

Work as head of Supreme Court

In August 2013 she led the court that dismissed

Henrique Capriles Henrique Capriles Radonski (; born 11 July 1972) is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer, who served as the 36th Governor of Miranda from 2008 to 2017. Born in Caracas, he received a degree in law from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, ...

' election appeal. Capriles had claimed the audit was a fake and did not correspond with the audit of actual ballots. Gutiérrez presided the trial that sentenced mayor Vicencio Scarano Spisso to 10.5 months in jail for insubordination.

Sanctions

Gutiérrez has been sanctioned by several countries. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Gutiérrez and seven members of the Venezuelan Supreme Justice Tribunal (TSJ) in May 2017 for usurping the functions of the

Venezuelan National Assembly The National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional) is the legislature for Venezuela that was first elected in 2000. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who were elected by a "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vo ...

and permitting Maduro to govern by decree. The U.S. assets of the eight individuals were frozen, and U.S. persons prohibited from doing business with them. Canada sanctioned 40 Venezuelan officials, including Gutiérrez, in September 2017. Also a
Punto de Corte
an
El Nacional
/ref> The sanctions were for behaviors that undermined democracy after at least 125 people were killed in the

2017 Venezuelan protests The 2017 Venezuelan protests were a series of protests occurring throughout Venezuela. Protests began in January 2017 after the arrest of multiple opposition leaders and the cancellation of dialogue between the opposition and Nicolás Maduro's g ...

and "in response to the government of Venezuela's deepening descent into dictatorship". Canadians were banned from transactions with the 40 individuals, whose Canadian assets were frozen. On 29 March 2018, Gutiérrez was sanctioned by the Panamanian government for his alleged involvement with "money laundering, financing of terrorism and financing the proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natu ...

". Also a
Panama Economic and Finance Ministry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutierrez, Gladys Venezuelan women judges Living people 1962 births Place of birth missing (living people) Central University of Venezuela alumni Women chief justices People of the Crisis in Venezuela Judges of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of Venezuela Fifth Republic Movement politicians United Socialist Party of Venezuela politicians Venezuelan women ambassadors Ambassadors of Venezuela to Spain

Career and education

Work as head of Supreme Court

Sanctions

See also

References