Venezuelans vote in opposition plebiscite

State workers join

CARACAS, July 16, (Agencies): Venezuelans go to the polls Sunday in a vote organized by the opposition aimed at gauging public support for Maduro’s plan to rewrite the constitution, against a backdrop of worsening political violence.

With authorities refusing to greenlight a vote presented as an act of civil disobedience and supporters of President Nicolas Maduro boycotting it, voters seemed set to reject the president’s controversial scheme.

The symbolic “plebiscite” comes two weeks ahead of a Maduro-backed vote to elect a citizens’ body that would revise the constitution. The opposition has told its supporters to stay away.

The cross-purpose initiatives have given rise to international worries — voiced by the Catholic Church and the head of the UN, Antonio Guterres — that the chances of bringing both sides together for dialogue has become more remote.

That, in turn, is stoking fears of more protests and running street battles with police, which have been persistent for the past three and a half months. Nearly 100 people have died in the unrest since the beginning of April.

While Maduro is deeply unpopular — with 80 percent of Venezuelans criticizing his rule, according to the Datanalisis survey firm — he enjoys backing from some, mostly poor, parts of the population and, most importantly, from the military.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said he expected 62 percent turnout Sunday, or about 11 million people out of the country’s population of 30 million.

Five former Latin American presidents -- from Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico and two from Costa Rica -were in Venezuela at the opposition’s invitation to act as observers of the vote, alongside electoral experts from various countries. Disgruntled Venezuelan state workers seek ways to join opposition vote

Some are traveling across town to cast their ballot. One has asked a cousin volunteering at a poll station to let him jump the queue. And another plans to dress up as a woman to vote.

Venezuela’s state workers are cooking up creative ways to participate in Sunday’s opposition plebiscite without being spotted by colleagues or Socialist Party members, which could compromise their jobs in Venezuela’s vengeful political climate.

Many state workers remain fierce supporters of his “21st century socialism,” but others have turned on the government due to salaries that have plummeted to a few dozen US dollars a month, corruption scandals and inefficiencies in state-owned companies.

Some workers stay on because of health insurance, subsidized food or lack of other opportunities in a country submerged in a fourth straight year of recession.

Capriles