FOR VENEZUELA
Streets around Venezuela were deserted and barricaded yesterday for the strike, with many businesses staying shut as the opposition sought a 24-hour national shutdown from 6am to heighten pressure on the ruling Socialist Party.
Student and transport groups said they would heed the call. Neighbours coordinated blocking off streets, and families planned to keep children behind doors in case of trouble.
“I’ve no doubt Venezuelans will paralyse the nation in rebellion,” opposition lawmaker and street activist Juan Requesens said of the strike yesterday.
“The dictatorship wants to impose an illegal Constitutional Assembly by force to perpetuate itself in power,” he said of the government’s plan for a July 30 vote for a legislative super-body that could rewrite the constitution.
Bosses at state-run companies, including oil company PDVSA which brings in 95 per cent of Venezuela’s export revenue, ordered nearly three million public employees to ignore the strike. No oil disruptions were expected.
With Venezuela brimming with shuttered stores and factories amid a blistering economic crisis, even a successful strike would have limited financial impact.
“Most Venezuelans want to work,” Maduro’s son, also called Nicolas and a candidate for the Constitutional Assembly, said. “I’m sure it will fail.”
A similar opposition strike call last year had a lukewarm response amid government threats to seize any closed businesses. But Maduro’s critics have gained momentum since then.
Anti-government protesters have been on the streets for nearly four months and Maduro faces foreign pressure to abort the Constitutional Assembly, which officials said would replace the opposition-led legislature.
United States President Donald Trump weighed in on the dispute this week, threatening economic sanctions if the assembly went ahead.
The opposition is boycotting the July 30 vote, which has complicated rules seemingly designed to guarantee a government majority despite its minority popular support.
Recalling a 36-hour coup against his popular predecessor Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president had said his foes were seeking to oust him by force.
The opposition also demanded freedom for more than 400 jailed activists, autonomy for the legislature and foreign humanitarian aid. Some 100 people have died in the unrest since April. Reuters An air tanker drops fire retardant on flames as firefighters continue to fight against the Detwiler fire in Mariposa, California, on Wednesday. The Detwiler fire is currently at seven per cent containment. It has burned more than 18,210ha and destroyed eight structures.