Maduro defies protesters, begins constitution overhaul
CARACAS: Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro formally launched moves to rewrite the constitution on Tuesday, defying opponents who accuse him of clinging to power in a political crisis that has prompted deadly unrest.
At an open air rally before thousands of supporters wearing red T-shirts, Mr Maduro signed a document formally establishing the terms for electing members of a “constituent assembly” that will be tasked with drafting a new constitution.
His backers waved red, yellow and blue national flags in defiance of angry opposition protests after the death toll from weeks of clashes reached 53.
Elections to the new assembly will take place at the end of July, the National Electoral Council president Tibisay Lucena later said in a televised statement. He also said gubernatorial elections pending since last December would take place on Dec 10 this year.
The opposition-controlled National Assembly promptly rejected Mr Maduro’s plan. “The Venezuelan people do not want a fraudulent Madurist constitution and we will not accept it,” opposition leader Henrique Capriles tweeted.
Violence has appeared to intensify in recent days with daily opposition marches calling for early elections. Crowds doused a man in fuel and set him alight at a demonstration on Sunday. Another three people died from gunshot wounds on Monday in riots in the western state of Barinas.
The government and opposition accuse each other of sending armed groups to sow violence during demonstrations.
Mr Maduro has accused the opposition of “terrorism”, resisting its calls for a vote on removing him from power.
The opposition blames him for an economic crisis that has caused major shortages of food, medicine and other basic goods amid soaring inflation. It says he plans to pack the “constituent assembly” with his supporters.
Mr Maduro said 176 of the assembly’s members will be drawn from certain civil groups, which the opposition say are traditionally loyal to him and his late predecessor Hugo Chavez.
In a move set to further inflame the opposition, Mr Maduro said the constitutional body would sit in the chamber of the National Assembly legislature — the only state institution nominally controlled by his opponents.
“What Nicolas Maduro has announced is nothing but a continuation of a coup against the constitution,” said the opposition speaker of the legislature, Julio Borges. “This National Assembly calls on Venezuelans to continue peaceful protests morning, noon and night in all corners of Venezuela until the constitution is respected.”
Electoral specialist Eugenio Martinez said on Twitter that the constitutional assembly looked likely to be set up via “a made-to-measure election, a process designed to make the Chavista vote worth more than the opposition one”.
A total of 53 people have died during demonstrations, many of them shot, public prosecutors said on Tuesday. Looting has broken out in various cities.
The man set alight on Sunday had been accused of thieving. Mr Maduro said he was targeted for being a government supporter.
Fresh riots broke out on Monday evening in the capital and Barinas.
“Venezuelans awake today in mourning for those murdered in our beloved Barinas. Such viciousness against our people!” Mr Capriles wrote on Twitter.