Gladys María Gutiérrez Alvarado
Gladys María Gutiérrez Alvarado (born 16 April 1962) is the current head of the Venezuelan Supreme Court.
Gutierrez studied law at the Universidad Central de Venezuela. She became member of the Constitutional Court on 9 December 2010.[1]
She was a member of the Fifth Republic Movement, a party that supported Hugo Chávez. She ran for governor of Nueva Esparta 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.[2]
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.[3]
Work as head of Supreme Court
In August 2013 she led the court that dismissed Henrique Capriles' election appeal.[4] 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.[5]