Venezuela braces for turbulence after recall referendum stalled
Opposition leaders calling move a ‘coup’
Venezuela is bracing for turbulence after the socialist government blocked a presidential recall referendum in a move opposition leaders are calling a coup. The opposition is urging supporters to take to the streets next week, while a leading government figure is calling for the arrest of high-profile government critics.
Polls suggest socialist President Nicolas Maduro would lose a recall vote. But that became a moot issue on Thursday when elections officials issued an order suspending a recall signature drive a week before it was to start. “What we saw yesterday was a coup,” said former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, who had been the leading champion of the recall effort. “We’ll remain peaceful, but we will not be taken for fools. We must defend our country.”
The socialists won power nearly two decades ago with the election of the popular former President Hugo Chavez, and for years enjoyed easy election victories. But with the economy in free-fall, polls show most Venezuelans have turned against the party, and over the years, the administration has gradually become increasingly autocratic.
Critical television stations have been closed and several leading opposition activists have been imprisoned. The country’s supreme court, packed with government supporters, has endorsed decree powers for Maduro and said he can ignore Congress following a landslide victory for the opposition in legislative elections.
The election commission, which has issued a string of pro-government rulings, halted the recall process on grounds of alleged irregularities in a first-round of signature gathering. Polls suggest 80 percent of voters wanted Maduro gone this year, and the electoral council on Tuesday also ordered a delay of about six months in gubernatorial elections that were slated for year-end which the opposition was heavily favored to win. It gave no reason for the delay.
The opposition charges that in the face of such overwhelming voter discontent, the socialist party has simply decided to put off elections indefinitely. The opposition coalition has called for a massive street protest Wednesday, on what would have been the start of the signature-gathering campaign. Maduro was traveling outside the country, but in a televised address Friday he urged calm at home. “I call on everyone to remain peaceful, to engage in dialogue, respect law and order and not to do anything crazy,” he said.
Meanwhile, one of his most powerful allies, Diosdado Cabello, said top opposition leaders should be jailed for attempting election fraud. And opposition leaders said the government might be taking steps in that direction. Capriles and opposition spokesman Jesus Torrealba on Friday posted online what appeared to be a local court order barring eight leaders from leaving the country. The document gave no reason.
The opposition had centered its energy on rallying Venezuelans to sign petitions next week demanding a referendum on Maduro’s removal. That would require collecting and validating 4 million signatures from 20 percent of the electorate within three days in each of the country’s 24 states. “This a big deal and reveals that the government was fearful of what could happen in the three-day signature collection period. They have effectively postponed the recall referendum indefinitely. This measure makes it difficult to think of Venezuela as a democracy,” said David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at the Washington Office on Latin America. But the campaign had already become mostly symbolic because the election board ruled in September that no vote would take place this year.— AP