Streets barricaded as country prepares for 24 hour shutdown
VENEZUELA: Many Venezuelan streets were barricaded and deserted yesterday for a strike called by foes of President Nicolas Maduro to demand elections and the scrapping of plans for a new congress they fear will consolidate dictatorship in the OPEC country.
From the Andes to the Amazon, millions appeared to be participating in the 24-hour shutdown, staying at home and closing businesses in a civil disobedience campaign the opposition hopes will end nearly two decades of socialist rule.
‘‘We must all do our best to get rid of this tyrant,’’ said Miguel Lopez, 17, holding a homemade shield emblazoned with ‘‘No To Dictatorship!’’ as he manned a roadblock on a Caracas thoroughfare that was devoid of traffic.
Many private transportation groups heeded the strike call, while students, neighbours and activists hauled rubbish and furniture into streets to erect makeshift barriers.
In some places, however, such as the poor Catia and January 23rd neighbourhoods of Caracas, streets and shops were still buzzing, while motorbike taxis replaced buses.
In a speech, Maduro vowed some of the strike leaders would be jailed and insisted the action was minimal, with the 700 leading food businesses, for example, still working. He said opposition supporters attacked the headquarters of state TV and burned a kiosk of the government postal service, but were repelled by workers and soldiers. ‘‘I’ve ordered the capture of all the fascist terrorists,’’ he said, singling out a Caracas district mayor, Carlos Ocariz, for blame.
In clashes elsewhere, security forces fired tear gas at protesters manning barricades. Youths shot fireworks at them from homemade mortars.
Violence during four months of anti-government unrest has taken about 100 lives, injured thousands, left hundreds in jail and further damaged an economy in its fourth year of a debilitating decline.
Clashes have occurred daily since the opposition Democratic Unity coalition and a self-styled youth-led ‘‘Resistance’’ movement took to the streets in April. In the latest fatality, a man confronting protesters was burned to death this week in the northern coastal town of Lecheria, media and authorities said.
Leaders of Venezuela’s 2.8 million public employees said state businesses and ministries remained open on Thursday. ‘‘I’m on strike ‘in my heart’ because if we don’t turn up, they will fire us,’’ said a 51-year-old engineer heading to work at state steel plant Sidor in southern Bolivar state.
Venezuela’s opposition now has majority support and says it drew 7.5 million people over the weekend for a symbolic referendum against the proposed assembly, which 98 percent of voters rejected. US President Donald Trump weighed in on the dispute this week, threatening economic sanctions if the July 30 vote goes ahead. Individual sanctions could be applied to Maduro allies. — Reuters