{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "id": "venezuela",
  "name": "Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela / República Bolivariana de Venezuela)",
  "jurisdiction_code": "VE",
  "legal_system": "civil-law",
  "language": ["es"],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "generated": "2026-06-04",
  "summary": "Venezuela is a South American civil-law federal republic whose family-law framework operates under the Civil Code (Código Civil, 1982 revision) supplemented by the Organic Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents (LOPNNA, 2007 reform of 1998 LOPNA). Parental authority (patria potestad) — termed 'parental responsibility' (responsabilidad de crianza) post-2007 — and child custody are governed by LOPNNA arts. 358-389. The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (Tribunal Supremo de Justicia) is the apex court for civil and criminal matters, with the Constitutional Chamber (Sala Constitucional) operating constitutional review. Family-law matters are heard at first instance in the Children and Adolescents Protection Courts (Tribunales de Protección de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes). Psychology profession is regulated through the Federación de Psicólogos de Venezuela. Venezuela has Constitutional Chamber jurisprudence addressing parental alienation substantively (Sala Constitucional decisions 2010-2018 on co-parenting and the alienating-parent doctrine) — among the more developed Latin American case-law on substantive PA-equivalent dynamics in the corpus, while remaining statutorily silent on the term. Venezuela acceded to the Hague Convention 1980 effective 1 January 1997.",
  "pa_recognition_status": {
    "statutory": "silent",
    "apex_court_position": "middle",
    "professional_regulator_position": "silent"
  },
  "statutory_framework": [
    {
      "citation": "Organic Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents 2007 (LOPNNA, reform of 1998 LOPNA) arts. 358-389",
      "title": "LOPNNA — Parental responsibility and custody",
      "year": 2007,
      "url": "https://www.tsj.gob.ve/",
      "relevance": "Federal Organic Law replacing/reforming 1998 LOPNA. Arts. 358-389 govern parental responsibility (responsabilidad de crianza) and child custody. Codifies co-parenting framework that Constitutional Chamber has applied to substantive PA-equivalent dynamics."
    },
    {
      "citation": "Civil Code 1982",
      "title": "Civil Code",
      "year": 1982,
      "url": "https://www.tsj.gob.ve/",
      "relevance": "Federal Civil Code drawing on Spanish civil-law substantive heritage. Family-law provisions substantially supplemented by LOPNNA 2007."
    }
  ],
  "apex_courts": [
    {
      "name": "Supreme Tribunal of Justice (Tribunal Supremo de Justicia)",
      "seat": "Caracas",
      "url": "https://www.tsj.gob.ve/",
      "role": "Apex court for civil and criminal matters."
    },
    {
      "name": "Constitutional Chamber (Sala Constitucional)",
      "seat": "Caracas",
      "url": "https://www.tsj.gob.ve/",
      "role": "Constitutional Chamber within Supreme Tribunal with constitutional review jurisdiction; has issued substantive jurisprudence on PA-equivalent co-parenting and alienating-parent doctrine."
    }
  ],
  "professional_regulators": [
    {
      "name": "Federación de Psicólogos de Venezuela",
      "url": "https://www.fpv.org.ve/",
      "role": "Federal professional federation for psychologists in Venezuela."
    }
  ],
  "anonymisation_convention": "Venezuelan family-court decisions are anonymised per Constitutional Chamber practice using initials.",
  "key_developments": [
    {
      "year": 1811,
      "title": "Venezuelan independence + Bolívar-+-Gran-Colombia framework",
      "description": "Venezuelan independence declared 5 July 1811 — substantively distinctive South American Bolívar-+-Gran-Colombia framework. Subsequent 1830 dissolution of Gran Colombia establishing independent Venezuela. Foundational substantive 215+ year independent-republic framework affecting subsequent constitutional-administrative-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1862,
      "title": "Civil Code 1862 + Andrés-Bello-civil-law-substantive-heritage framework",
      "description": "Federal Civil Code 1862 enacted based on Andrés Bello / Chilean Civil Code substantive heritage — substantively significant South American Bello-Civil-Code-derivative framework. Foundational substantive civil-law framework persisting through subsequent reform-trajectory including 1982 revision affecting family-law-implementation."
    },
    {
      "year": 1958,
      "title": "Punto-Fijo-Pact + democratic-restoration framework",
      "description": "Punto Fijo Pact 31 October 1958 ending Marcos Pérez Jiménez dictatorship 1952-1958 — substantively distinctive South American Punto-Fijo-bipartisan-democratic-restoration framework. Substantive 40-year AD-COPEI democratic framework persisting through subsequent 1999 Chávez-presidency affecting constitutional-democratic-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1982,
      "title": "Civil Code 1982 revision + Bolivarian-civil-law-modernisation framework",
      "description": "Federal Civil Code revision 1982 substantively reshaping family-law-implementation framework — substantively significant South American civil-law-modernisation framework. Foundational substantive civil-law framework persisting through subsequent LOPNA-LOPNNA reform-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1990,
      "title": "Venezuela ratifies UN Convention on the Rights of the Child + UNCRC-applicability framework",
      "description": "Venezuela ratified UNCRC 13 September 1990 — substantively significant child-rights framework integration. Foundational best-interests-of-the-child framework integration with subsequent 1998 LOPNA + 2007 LOPNNA substantive doctrine."
    },
    {
      "year": 1997,
      "title": "Hague Convention 1980 accession + Hague-Latin-American-cluster framework",
      "description": "Venezuela acceded to the Hague Convention 1980 effective 1 January 1997 — substantively significant South American Hague-accession framework. Substantive cross-border-jurisdiction-practice framework affecting subsequent reform-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1998,
      "title": "LOPNA + Organic-Law-for-the-Protection-of-Children-and-Adolescents framework",
      "description": "Federal Organic Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents (LOPNA) 1998 enacted aligned with UNCRC obligations — substantively significant South American child-protection framework. Foundational pre-2007-LOPNNA-reform framework affecting subsequent reform-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 1999,
      "title": "Chávez-presidency + 1999-Constitution-of-Bolivarian-Republic framework",
      "description": "Hugo Chávez Frías presidency 2 February 1999 + Constitution of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela 1999 — substantively distinctive South American Bolivarian-republic-renaming-+-21st-century-socialism framework. Substantive constitutional-democratic-trajectory framework affecting subsequent constitutional-administrative-trajectory."
    },
    {
      "year": 2007,
      "title": "LOPNNA reform + co-parenting-+-parental-responsibility-codification framework",
      "description": "LOPNA substantially reformed becoming LOPNNA 2007 — substantively significant South American co-parenting-+-parental-responsibility-codification framework. Patria potestad renamed responsabilidad de crianza. Foundational substantive co-parenting framework affecting subsequent Sala Constitucional PA-equivalent jurisprudence 2010-2018."
    },
    {
      "year": 2024,
      "title": "Tribunal Supremo de Justicia + Sala Constitucional — co-parenting-+-alienating-parent substantive register + Maduro-presidency + Venezuelan-emigration-crisis context",
      "description": "Supreme Tribunal of Justice and Constitutional Chamber (Sala Constitucional) continue to develop substantive jurisprudence on co-parenting and alienating-parent doctrine under LOPNNA 2007 arts. 358-389 + Civil Code 1982 + Hague Convention 1980 framework in custody disputes within continuing Maduro presidency since 2013 + 7.7-million-Venezuelan-emigration-crisis context (Migración Venezolana). Among more developed Latin American substantive PA-equivalent case-law. Substantive analysis without doctrinal 'parental alienation' label adoption."
    }
  ],
  "structural_findings": [
    "Venezuela is structurally distinctive within the Latin American cluster — Constitutional Chamber has developed substantive jurisprudence on co-parenting and alienating-parent doctrine despite remaining statutorily silent on 'parental alienation' as label. Among more developed Latin American substantive PA-equivalent case-law in the corpus.",
    "LOPNNA 2007 codification of co-parenting/parental-responsibility framework predates and structurally informs the substantive PA-equivalent jurisprudence.",
    "Hague Convention 1980 accession 1997 places Venezuela in the Hague Latin American cluster."
  ],
  "references": [
    "jurisdiction:colombia",
    "jurisdiction:brazil",
    "jurisdiction:peru",
    "evidence:cross-border-parental-abduction-and-pa-intersection",
    "evidence:childrens-rights-paramountcy-doctrine"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Supreme Tribunal of Justice",
      "url": "https://www.tsj.gob.ve/",
      "publisher": "Supreme Tribunal",
      "language": "es"
    },
    {
      "title": "Federación de Psicólogos de Venezuela",
      "url": "https://www.fpv.org.ve/",
      "publisher": "FPV",
      "language": "es"
    }
  ],
  "editorial_notes": [
    "Venezuela jurisdiction sidecar v1.1 — deepened 2026-06-09 from 5 to 10 key_developments with full Venezuelan-independence-1811-to-Maduro-+-Venezuelan-emigration-crisis-context trajectory: 1811-Venezuelan-independence-+-Bolívar + 1862-Civil-Code-Bello-derivative + 1958-Punto-Fijo-Pact + 1982-Civil-Code-revision + 1990-Venezuela-UNCRC-ratification + 1997-Hague-Convention-accession + 1998-LOPNA + 1999-Chávez-presidency-+-Bolivarian-Republic-Constitution + 2007-LOPNNA-reform-+-co-parenting + 2024-Tribunal-Supremo-+-Sala-Constitucional-+-Maduro-+-Venezuelan-emigration-crisis.",
    "Civil-law South America with substantive-PA-equivalent jurisprudence (LOPNNA 2007 co-parenting + Sala Constitucional substantive doctrine + Civil Code 1982 + Hague Convention 1980 accession 1997). Among more developed Latin American substantive PA-equivalent case-law in the corpus + Andrés Bello / Chilean Civil Code substantive heritage + 7.7-million-Venezuelan-emigration-crisis (largest emigration crisis in Latin American history).",
    "PA-recognition: silent statutory + middle apex-court (substantive co-parenting/alienating-parent jurisprudence) + silent regulator — substantive co-parenting + alienating-parent jurisprudence under LOPNNA 2007 arts. 358-389 + Civil Code 1982 + Hague Convention 1980 framework. Among more developed Latin American substantive case-law.",
    "Joins Latin-American + civil-law + apex-court-substantive-PA-equivalent-distinctive-cluster-Sala-Constitucional + Andrés-Bello/Chilean-Civil-Code-substantive-heritage + Bolívar-Gran-Colombia-1811-+-1830-dissolution + Civil-Code-1862-+-1982-revision + Punto-Fijo-Pact-1958-+-AD-COPEI-bipartisan + Chávez-presidency-1999-+-Bolivarian-Republic-Constitution-1999 + LOPNA-1998-+-LOPNNA-2007-+-responsabilidad-de-crianza + Sala-Constitucional-PA-equivalent-jurisprudence-2010-2018 + Maduro-presidency-since-2013 + Venezuelan-emigration-crisis-7.7-million-largest-in-Latin-American-history-distinctive + Hague-Convention-accession-1997 clusters within the corpus."
  ]
}