Opposition to Venezuelan leader mounts

CARACAS: Opposition supporters headed to rallies around Venezuela yesterday against unpopular socialist President Nicolas Maduro, whom they accuse of turning into a dictator by preventing a plebiscite to remove him.

The oil-rich South American country is in the throes of a punishing recession that has many poor families skipping meals or surviving on starches amid scarce food and triple-digit inflation.

The opposition coalition says Maduro must go before the situation worsens, but Venezuela’s electoral authorities last week cancelled a planned signature drive to hold a recall referendum against him, citing fraud.

An outraged opposition said Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, had crossed the line.

It held a march led by women dressed in white on Saturday, launched a political trial against him in Congress on Tuesday, and organised marches called the “Takeover of Venezuela” for yesterday.

“We are in the final stage of this democratic fight,” said jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez in tweets from his prison cell posted by his family. “Let the streets and highways send a message to the repression and censorship of this dictatorship.” Some opposition supporters reported on social media that roadblocks by security forces were delaying their entry into Caracas, where many businesses were staying shut and some parents were keeping children away from school. – Reuters