Story highlights Attorney general: Ruling "constitutes a rupture of the constitutional order"

Venezuela's high court stripped the National Assembly of its legislative powers

(CNN) Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz on Friday strongly criticized a ruling by the country's Supreme Court to take over the National Assembly's legislative powers, essentially dissolving it.

"It constitutes a rupture of the constitutional order," the attorney general said, raising a pocket-size copy of the Venezuelan Constitution in her left hand and standing in front of the Venezuelan flag.

Ortega made the statement during her annual State of the Attorney General's Office address in Caracas. The statement is significant because it breaks with the government's official position.

Venezuelan's opposition has long perceived the attorney general as being loyal to the socialist government of President Nicolás Maduro

"It is my obligation to express in front of the country my deep concern about this event (the ruling)" Ortega added.

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