Venezuela crisis tips into showdown
The whole country must tell the world this Constituent Assembly has no legitimacy, Freddy Guevara, opposition lawmaker
CARACAS: Venezuela careened towards a showdown on its streets yesterday between anti-government protesters and security forces, raising international alarm at worsening deadly unrest and prompting the US to order the families of embassy staff out.
The opposition called fresh nationwide demonstrations to defy a new government ban on rallies ahead of a controversial vote tomorrow to elect a body to rewrite the constitution.
Four months of protests against unpopular leftist President Nicolas Maduro have already claimed 112 lives, according to prosecutors — seven of them during a twoday general strike that ended Thursday.
Tensions have been heightened by a decree from Maduro banning protests and warning that anyone who marches against the ‘Constituent Assembly’ risks up to 10 years in prison.
The opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable, shot back with a tweet saying‘ the regime declared we can’t demonstrate... We will respond with the TAKING OF VENEZUELA’.
It called mass protests for yesterday, today and tomorrow.
“The whole country must tell the world this Constituent Assembly has no legitimacy,” opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara said at a press conference.
Maduro countered by urging the opposition to ‘abandon the road to insurrection’.
He urged immediate dialogue, but signalled he was not backing down. Any talks, he said, should happen “before the election and installation of the Constituent Assembly.”
Fears of open civil conflict have prompted thousands of Venezuelans to join an exodus into neighbouring Colombia.
International concern has mounted, with the US, European Union (EU), United Nations (UN) and major Latin American nations urging Maduro to halt his plan.
The US has imposed sanctions on 13 current and former Venezuelan officials to try to force a change, leading to Maduro branding the actions ‘illegal’ and ‘insolent’.
On Thursday, Canada warned its nationals against non-essential travel to Venezuela and urged citizens already there to leave.
Venezuela’s opposition, which controls the National Assembly, has urged civil disobedience against what it terms Maduro’s dictatorship.
It is pushing on with its own strategy of trying to force Maduro from power through early elections.
Some 70 per cent of Venezuelans oppose plans for the constituent assembly, according to polling firm Datanalisis.
Skirmishes in the street between supporters of the opposition and the Maduro government have become commonplace.
Volleys of tear gas, rubber bullets and homemade bombs arced through the air in the capital during the strike.
Barricades made from debris littered the eastern part of the city, with signs reading ‘No more dictatorships!’
“Where does Maduro want to take the country? To a social explosion?” asked Henrique Capriles, an opposition leader.
Maduro accuses Washington of fomenting unrest against him, aided by the opposition. As public support for his goverenment slips away, the former bus driver has relied increasingly on the Venezuelan military to hold onto power.
Meanwhile, ordinary citizens are suffering under a long-running economic crisis.
The oil export-dependent economy will shrink 12 per cent this year, after a contraction of 18 per cent last year, the International Monetary Fund said. Inflation is projected to top 720 per cent.
Venezuela’s currency reserves have dwindled to under US$10 billion as the government keeps up debt repayments at the expense of imports to stave off a devastating default. — AFP