Up to 200K protesters march against Maduro
Opposition activists block the Francisco Fajardo main motorway in eastern Caracas on Saturday to protest against President Nicolas Maduro. Venezuelan protesters and supporters of embattled President Nicolas Maduro take to the streets Saturday as a deadly political crisis plays out in a divided country on the verge of paralysis.
CARACAS: More than 200,000 protesters took to the streets of Venezuela on Saturday, day 50 of an angry and sometimes deadly showdown with the unpopular President Nicolas Maduro.
As with many of the previous ried signs that read “#We are milmarches in the crisis-hit country, polions against the dictatorship” and “#No more dictatorship!” capital suffering from dire shortages The protesters blame Maduro for of the most basic of goods. shortages of food, medicine and
The opposition blames Madusuch basics as soap and even toilet ro for the economic mess in oilpaper, saying he is maneuvering to rich Venezuela, demanding early dodge calls for early elections. elections to replace the socialist “It’s been 50 days of protests. who took over from the late Hugo I’m here with my two children, I Chavez. Seven weeks of street can’t get any milk, I can’t get any protests have left 47 people dead. food,” said Mariangel, a 24-year
In Caracas alone, some 160,000 old businesswoman. marched through the city trying to The red, blue and yellow colreach the Interior Ministry in the city center, said Edinson Ferrer, spokespainted on her face. man for the opposition coalition Young men wearing hoods MUD, citing a preliminary estimate. and gas masks carried makeshift
shields of wood and metal. the demonstration and protesters “This has been a massacre responded by throwing rocks and against the people,” opposition Molotov cocktails. leader Henrique Capriles said
At least 46 people were injured before the march got underway. in the eastern district of Chacao, “Still, the more repression there the authorities said, including a woman hit by a vehicle. for Venezuela,” he added.
Riots were taking place on the One of Capriles’s lawyers delivered city’s outskirts overnight. a report on the Venezuelan crisis to
In the western city of San Cristhe United Nations High Commistobal in Tachira state, an estisioner for Human Rights on Friday mated 40,000- plus took to the streets. Maduro ordered 2,600 the opposition leader’s passport, presoldiers to Tachira this week to quell street violence and looting. The turnout for Saturday’s dem
In Caracas, demonstrators car- onstrations came close to the biggest rally during seven weeks of protests, when several hundred thousand people came out on April 19. The demonstrations have degenerated into violence that, besides the 47 dead, has left hundreds injured, 2,200 detained and some 161 imprisoned by military tribunals.
On the other side of town, some 2,000 pro- government workers sang and danced as they staged a rival march to show their support for the president’s controversial plan to elect a constitutional assembly to rewrite the constitution.
Maduro had been scheduled to welcome the workers at the Mira marchers did not end up seeing the president.
Venezuela is bitterly divided as locals bridle under all the shortages, soaring inflation - prices could rise by 720 percent this year, the International Monetary Fund estimates - and some of the world’s highest crime rates.
Increasing violence
As protests have turned violent, an increasing number of gunshot wounds have been reported. Federal prosecutors said they are investigating the role of police and military personnel in the incidents.
Some of the shootings took place in Tachira state, near the border with Colombia, where Maduro deployed soldiers this week after riots and looting.
Protests have swelled since Mad- uro called for convening a “popular” assembly to rewrite the Venezuelan constitution, with half its members coming from sectors loyal to him.
The opposition says the assembly would allow Maduro to avoid elections. He denies that and has “guaranteed” that presidential elections will be held next year, as required by law.
Maduro insisted Friday that the “popular” assembly would provide a “path to peace, dialogue and consensus,” while the opposition, he said, was offering only “violence and death.”
Loyal military
Analysts say the opposition’s biggest challenge will be to keep their marches peaceful.
Protests succeed only when they are massive and persistent, said Luis Vicente Leon, who heads warned that when demonstrations turn violent, they “lose impact.”
Seven in 10 Venezuelans reject Maduro’s leadership, according to private surveys, amid widespread economic devastation aggravated by the drop in the prices of oil—Venezuela’s chief revenue source—in 2014.
That has left Maduro heavily dependent on military support.
Opposition protests grew after the country’s Supreme Court on March 30 assumed some of the functions of the National Assembly.