US threatens ‘ economic actions’ as Venezuela mired in political crisis

Venezuela is undergoing a political crisis resulting from a months- long standoff between the government and the opposition, while the US has threatened to take “economic actions” against the Venezuelan government.

Venezuela’s opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable ( MUD) announced on Monday that it was the “zero hour” for the government of President Nicolas Maduro, as National Assembly President Julio Borges spoke of a “scaling- up of pressure.”

Borges was speaking one day after the MUD held an unofficial referendum to protest Maduro’s bid to rewrite the constitution through the cre- ation of a National Constituent Assembly ( ANC), which will be elected on July 30.

“In this phase there come the pressure, the escalation, the materialization of the reasons for which people voted ... yesterday. The world and the government must listen to a cry from an entire country,” said Borges.

According to data from the MUD, 7.1 million people voted against the ANC on Sunday.

The referendum asked the Venezuelan people three questions: Whether they support or not Maduro’s call for the ANC? Whether they support the constitution of 1999 which Maduro is seeking to change? Whether officials in public of- fice should be replaced?

“If he ( Maduro) tried to go against the referendum yesterday, he would be the one leading to more conflict and violence,” claimed Borges.

However, the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela dismissed the results and accused the MUD of vote tampering.

During a press conference, Jorge Rodriguez, former vice president and current mayor of Caracas, denied that the MUD had received the votes it claimed. Rodriguez called the referendum a “gigantic fraud” which sought to “renew violence” in the country.

He said the Venezuelan opposition obtained only 2,395,390 favorable votes, but multiplied this by three, leading to their announced result of 7,186,170 votes.

Rodriguez accused the MUD of trying to perpetrate “a huge fraud against the Venezuelan people” by inflating the numbers. “There was a gigantic scam on all the people of Venezuela,” he said. “Over 5 million votes are missing to complete these false numbers ... We have proof of this.”

Also on Sunday, the government held a simulation of the July 30 vote for the ANC, which the executive hopes can end the country’s political crisis.

US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to “take strong and swift economic actions” against the Venezuelan government, which it considers to be unruly toward the US, if Venezuela goes ahead to pursue the creation of the ANC.

According to a strongly worded statement released by the White House, Trump warned that if Maduro “imposes” the ANC on July 30, the US will “take strong and swift economic actions.”

Venezuelans will go to the polls to elect the 545 members of the ANC on July 30.