Venezuelan Supreme Court Justice Fernando Ramon Vegas Torrealba to Speak at UCLA School of Law.

WHAT:     UCLA School of Law will host a lecture by Fernando Ramon
          Vegas Torrealba, a magistrate of Venezuela's Supreme
          Tribunal of Justice (Venezuela's Supreme Court).  The
          lecture, entitled "Democracy in Venezuela under the 1999
          Bolivarian Constitution," is co-sponsored by the law
          school's Politics and International Law Colloquium and its
          Critical Race Studies Concentration, along with the UCLA
          Latin American Center.

          Justice Vegas Torrealba will be speaking as a judicial
          expert on the significant reforms occurring in Venezuela as
          a result of the current Constitution of the Bolivarian
          Republic of Venezuela, which was adopted in 1999.  Drafted
          by a constitutional assembly that was created by popular
          referendum--which was a first for the country--the 1999
          Constitution replaced the 1961 Constitution, which, of the
          26 constitutions used by Venezuela since its independence in
          1811, had been the longest standing Constitution.

          Justice Vegas Torrealba will discuss the major changes to
          the structure and responsibilities of Venezuela's government
          brought about with the 1999 Constitution, including a
          greater emphasis of human rights, educational access,
          quality health care, environmental rights and protections
          and rights of indigenous peoples to uphold their own
          traditional cultures, religions and languages.  The 1999
          Constitution, which features some 350 articles, is among the
          world's longest, most complicated and most comprehensive
          Constitutions.

WHO:      Justice Vegas Torrealba was appointed to the Supreme
          Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) in August 2004 and assumed office
          in January 2005.  He sits in the Electoral Chamber of the
          TSJ.  The Justice is a published novelist and he regularly
          writes columns for newspapers and journals.

          Justice Vegas Torrealba earned his law degree at the Central
          University of Venezuela and a master's degree in the laws of
          economic integration in 1977.  He is an expert in commercial
          relations and has written and lectured extensively in this
          area.  The Justice helped to negotiate various international
          trade agreements with companies doing business in Venezuela.

WHEN:     Thursday, April 13, 2006, 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

WHERE:    UCLA School of Law, Room 1447