Venezuela protests grow over elections
• Anger spreads after announcement of ‘sham’ polls
Angry Venezuelans barricaded streets in parts of Caracas and the opposition geared up for another protest on Wednesday as the announcement of two election dates failed to appease anger against President Nicolas Maduro and a failing economy.
After nearly two months of protests demanding an early presidential vote, the progovernment electoral council said on Tuesday voting for a “constituent assembly” would be held in July and delayed state elections in December.
Maduro foes said this was designed to confuse Venezuelans, prompt infighting among the opposition and allow the unpopular leftist government to dodge free and fair elections they would probably lose.
Opposition legislators say the assembly, whose 540 members will be elected on a municipal level and by community groups, will be filled with government stooges who will merely obey Maduro’s orders to rewrite the constitution.
“Once installed, this constituent assembly will eliminate governorships, mayors and the National Assembly,” said opposition legislator Tomas Guanipa. “There’s been a break in Venezuela’s constitutional order and the streets are our way to rescue it.”
The South American Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries member has been racked by strife since early April, with at least 55 people killed as protests and anger boiled over due to an economic meltdown.
Venezuela is suffering tripledigit inflation, a fourth year of recession, long lines at shops and widespread shortages of basic foods and medicines.
Maduro says he is facing an “armed insurrection” and the constituent assembly, a super body that will supersede all other public powers, is the way to restore peace to Venezuela.
MOLOTOV COCKTAILS
Opposition supporters planned to march to the electoral council on Wednesday, although the demonstration would probably be blocked by National Guard soldiers. In the last weeks, troops and police have faced off with masked youths hurling stones and Molotov cocktails.
The opposition-led National Assembly wants a referendum asking Venezuelans if they approve of Maduro’s constituent assembly plan.
Looting, barricades and riots are now commonplace around Venezuela as the protests spin out of control and gangs take advantage of the chaos.
In many places, schools have closed, public transport has been halted and streets barricaded. Some areas resemble war zones after pillaging of bakeries and warehouses.
At some intersections, young men ask passersby for money to “collaborate with the resistance”. Traffic was blocked in parts of the capital early on Wednesday.
The trouble has been particularly bad this week in Barinas, the home state of Maduro’s mentor and predecessor Hugo Chavez that the socialists regard as the “cradle of the revolution”. Seven people have died in protests there in the past few days, according to the state prosecutor.
Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader elected in 2013, paints the opposition as coupmongers seeking to stoke violence and overthrow “21st-century socialism”.
More than 2,700 people have been arrested since April, with more than 1,100 still behind bars and some 330 being tried in military tribunals, according to rights group Penal Forum. his