Maduro’s foes in the gun
The installation of a new body with the power to change laws, following a contentious election, is sure to intensify Venezuela’s political crisis.
The head of Venezuela’s newly installed constitutional assembly has pledged to move quickly against President Nicolas Maduro’s political opponents, beginning as early as the allpowerful body’s second meeting today.
Former foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez’s nomination as leader was unanimously approved by the assembly’s 545 delegates during yesterday’s session, which was held despite strong criticism from the United States and Venezuela’s opposition, which fear the body will be a tool for imposing dictatorship. Supporters say it will pacify a country rocked by violent protests.
The assembly was scheduled to meet again today, and Rodriguez said it would be taking action against the socialist government’s opponents.
‘‘Don’t think we’re going to wait weeks, months or years,’’ she said. ‘‘Tomorrow, we start to act. The violent fascists, those who wage economic war on the people, those who wage psychological war, justice is coming for you.’’
The installation of the constitutional assembly is virtually certain to intensify a political crisis that has brought four months of protests that have left at least 120 people dead and hundreds jailed.
Maduro has vowed that the assembly will strip opposition lawmakers of their constitutional immunity from prosecution, while members of congress say they will only be removed by force.
But the opposition is struggling to regain its footing in the face of the government’s strong-arm tactics and the re-emergence of old, internal divisions. Several opposition activists have been jailed in recent days, others are rumoured to be looking at going into exile, and one leader has broken ranks from the opposition alliance to say his party will field candidates in regional elections despite widespread mistrust in Venezuela’s electoral system.
In a sign of its apparent demoralised state, only a few hundred demonstrators showed up for yesterday’s protest against the constitutional assembly – one of the smallest turnouts in months.
‘‘This is what the constitutional assembly will bring: more repression,’’ said opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro.
However, Maduro accuses his opponents of using violence, and argues that the constitutional assembly is the best way to restore peace.
Yesterday he honoured members of the security forces who have been on the front lines of the daily street battles, claiming that 580 of them had suffered serious injuries from attacks by ‘‘terrorist’’ protesters.
‘‘I feel deeply the wounds of each one of you,’’ Maduro told a small group of injured national guardsmen. ‘‘With your bodies as Tomorrow we start to act. The violent fascists, those who wage economic war on the people, those who wage psychological war, justice is coming for you. Delcy Rodriguez your shield, you have defended the right to peace.’’
Amid the rising tensions, an increasing number of foreign governments have sided with the opposition, refusing to recognise the constitutional assembly and further isolating Maduro’s government.
The Vatican yesterday urged Maduro to suspend the new body, expressing ‘‘deep worry for the radicalisation and worsening’’ of the turmoil in Venezuela.
In a phone call, US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, agreed that Maduro had to restore the rights of the Venezuelan people, the White House said.
Foreign ministers from several South American nations are gathering in Brazil today for an emergency meeting to decide whether to evict Venezuela from the Mercosur trade bloc for violating its democratic norms. Venezuela was suspended from the group in December.
The opposition boycotted the July 30 election of the constitutional assembly, saying the rules were rigged to further entrench Maduro’s ‘‘dictatorship’’.
The results have come under mounting scrutiny after the international company that provided the electronic voting machines said that ‘‘without any doubt’’ the official turnout had been tampered with – a charge dismissed by Maduro and the National Electoral Council.
The constitutional assembly is made up of an array of progovernment trade unionists, students, and even representatives of Venezuelans with physical disabilities. But the agenda is expected to be set by bigger-name loyalists, including Maduro’s wife and son, and several ministers who resigned their posts to join the body.
It will have sweeping powers to upend institutions, and in theory could even remove Maduro. One of its first tasks could be the closure of the oppositioncontrolled congress and the removal of chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz, a longtime supporter of former president the late Hugo Chavez who recently broke with Maduro.
Ortega Diaz filed a complaint this week seeking a court order to block installation of the new assembly. The request, filed with a lower court in an apparent attempt to circumvent the government-stacked Supreme Court, was dismissed yesterday on procedural grounds.
She also ordered prosecutors to investigate the allegations of election tampering.
Smartmatic chief executive Antonio Mugica said in London that results recorded by his company’s systems and those reported by the National Electoral Council showed that the official turnout count of 8 million was off by at least 1 million votes.