Venezuela holds contentious election
VENEZUELA - Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro defiantly followed through Sunday with his pledge to hold an internationally condemned election, creating a critical new stage in a long-simmering crisis that could mint the Western Hemisphere’s newest dictatorship. The vote began unfolding Sunday at dawn under the watchful eyes of 326,000 troops and amounted to a dark turning point for this oil-rich nation after four months of intensifying repression. The election will create what critics call a puppet congress with vast powers to rewrite the constitution and supplant the opposition-controlled National Assembly, leaving all branches of government under firm socialist control. On Sunday, members of the opposition, which boycotted the vote, set up barricades in parts of the capital and beyond as they pledged to carry out protests. The nation’s 2.8 million state workers, however, risked losing their jobs for not turning out to cast ballots. Poor residents were warned that they could lose access to food baskets and government housing for failing to vote in the election, in which the candidates — including Maduro’s wife and son — are all government backers. In Caracas, where voting began at 6 a.m. amid the squawk of macaws, citizens lined up at polling stations under a veil of fear. According to polling from the Datanalisis firm, 72 percent of the population is against a new constituent assembly.
“To be honest, I’m voting because I’m afraid of losing my benefits,” said Betty, a 60-year-old woman who lives in public housing and was too scared to give her last name. “The government gave me my house, and I don’t want to lose it. I’m surviving because of government programs.” In images carried live on national TV, Maduro cast his ballot shortly after polls opened. Early Sunday, reports surfaced of violent confrontations between government forces and residents in western Caracas and the suburbs. On Saturday night, public security forces conducted raids in the center of the city and shot two young men in the state of Merida. The opposition said a student leader was killed early Sunday, adding to a death toll that already tops 100. A progovernment candidate also was killed in the interior state of Bolivar, according to the attorney general’s office. The decision to hold the vote appeared set to prolong and deepen the suffering of the people of Venezuela, where hyperinflation and scarcities have sent poverty soaring, crippled medical care and increased hunger. A tube of toothpaste now costs more than one day’s salary at the minimum wage.
(washingtonpost)