Venezuela legislators allege Maduro ‘coup’

Resolution came during an emergency session on crisis gripping the South American nation

Venezuela’s opposition-majority legislature declared on Sunday that President Nicolas Maduro’s government had committed a coup d’etat by blocking a referendum on removing him from power, vowing mass protests and international pressure.

Furious over the electoral authorities’ decision to suspend the process of organising a recall vote, opposition lawmakers passed a resolution declaring “the breakdown of constitutional order” and “a coup d’etat committed by the Nicolas Maduro regime.”

The measure came during an emergency session on the economic and political crisis gripping the South American oil giant, which briefly descended into chaos when a group of Maduro supporters forced its way past security guards and burst into the National Assembly, causing lawmakers to halt the proceedings for 45 minutes.

The legislators then called on Venezuelans to “actively defend” the constitution, declaring they would ask the international community to “activate mechanisms” to restore democracy.

“An ongoing coup d’etat has been perpetrated in Venezuela, culminating in the decision to rob us of a recall referendum. We’re here to officially declare the regrettable and painful rupture of constitutional order,” said majority leader Julio Borges of the centre-right opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD).

Trial warning

Yesterday, the assembly was expected to “lay the groundwork for a session that would include a legal and political trial of the president ... to determine what his role is in the interruption of constitutional order,” Borges warned.

Pro-Maduro lawmakers accused the opposition itself of seeking to stage a coup.

Despite its harsh words, the legislature’s resolution is largely symbolic. The Supreme Court has declared the legislative majority in contempt of court for defying it by swearing in three lawmakers at the centre of an electoral fraud investigation.

The opposition, which says the accusations are trumped up, condemns the high court as a Maduro lapdog.

The court has slapped down every bill passed by the legislature since the opposition took control in January.

Lawmakers nevertheless said they were going to address the issue of Maduro’s purported dual nationality — Colombian and Venezuelan — in session today. If confirmed, it would make him constitutionally ineligible to be president.