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Venezuela lurched closer to full-blown crisis Friday when the nation's top prosecutor, a long-time ally of the ruling socialist party, labeled unconstitutional the Supreme Court's move to usurp the power of the opposition-led National Assembly.

Small, sporadic protests flared up across the country, jittery investors dumped the government's bonds and opposition leaders sought to capitalize on the chaos by calling on the military to "restore" constitutional order.

The comments by prosecutor general Luisa Ortega Diaz, in which she said the court ruling "ruptured" the constitutional order, were a rare — almost unheard of — public condemnation by a high-ranking government official of the direction the faltering country is heading.

While her statements likely will have no immediate legal impact, they deliver a potentially major setback to embattled President Nicolas Maduro, who has long sought to use the courts to prevent congress from challenging his rule.

"It's my duty to manifest concern of such event," Ortega Diaz, who was appointed to her post a decade ago by the late Hugo Chavez, said to applause at a press conference in Caracas.

Clutching a small copy of the constitution, she called on Venezuelans to overcome political differences "so that democratic paths can be taken that respect the constitution and foster an atmosphere of respect and rescue plurality."

The oil-producing nation, which has been ravaged by an economic depression and food shortages for years, has been on tenterhooks since the Supreme Court's ruling late Wednesday further stoked claims by the opposition and foreign countries that Maduro is moving the government toward a dictatorship.

The move has drawn criticism from the U.S., Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, among others, while the Organization of American States labeled it a "self-coup."

The public rebuke by the nation's top prosecutor is, perhaps, the clearest sign yet that support is eroding for Maduro within the dominant socialist party that his mentor Chavez assembled over the last two decades.

Analysts here are quick to note that high-ranking ruling party members have long presented a unified front despite years of political unrest and economic hardship.

"This clearly constitutes a milestone in recent political Venezuelan history," said Angel Alvarez, a political consultant.

Facing mounting criticism at home and abroad, Alvarez says Ortega Diaz's comments suggest "there are much deeper internal conflicts within Chavismo than we are able to see."

Friday's events heightened investor concern that the fractured country is headed for default.

Some said they worried that while Maduro has so far insisted on meeting foreign bond payments amid the economic collapse, a further escalation of the crisis may erode that determination.

The government's benchmark bond due in 2027 declined 3.3 cents to 46.2 cents on the dollar in, the biggest decline in two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Bonds issued by the cash-strapped state oil company PDVSA, which has $2.5 billion of debt maturing next month, also fell. Its securities due in 2035 sank to 43.2 cents on the dollar.

Rising to prominence after the botched 2002 coup attempt that sought to topple Chavez, Ortega Diaz, 59, has long represented one of the staunchest defenders of the late leftist leader's political project, prosecuting and jailing some of his most strident critics.

In recent years, she continued to maintain the party line. In 2014, when anti-demonstrations rocked the South American nation for months, Ortega Diaz oversaw the jailing of dozens of student and opposition activists, most notably, former Chacao mayor Leopoldo Lopez.

Still, Venezuela's opposition coalition welcomed Ortega Diaz's comments as it continues to deliberate its next move.

On Friday, the alliance continued to ask for support from Latin American governments, convoked protests across the capital for Saturday and urged the country's armed forces to "restore" constitutional order — asking, in essence, for what it would envision as a counter-coup.

Observers, though, see little indication as yet that Venezuela's military is ready to follow suit and break ranks.

Given Maduro's strong grip on the country's institutions, "the security apparatus is likely to strongly repress protesters with opposition leaders facing higher detention risks," IHS analyst Diego Moya-Ocampos wrote in a research note.

Maduro has so far remained mum on the Supreme Court decision. But his foreign minister, Delcy Rodriguez, took issue with the response from Latin American counterparts to the move, decrying on Thursday a "right-wing regional plot" against Venezuela's democracy.