Fear spreads in Venezuela ahead of demonstrations, vote
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela prepared Friday for a possible showdown between opposition protesters and government forces ahead of a vote that critics decry as a final step toward authoritarian rule in the South American nation.
Residents in the sprawling capital poured into supermarkets,which are already struggling with food shortages, to stockpile what they could amid fears of clashes. Flash points emerged in parts of the city, with clusters of protesters clashing with security forces, who fired tear gas. Many streets appeared calm, though, some even eerily quiet.
“I’m going to stay home all weekend because I feel there will be violence,” said Rosa Aponte, 45, who was shopping in a packed grocery store in wealthier eastern Caracas, buying bread, plantains, juice, yogurt and sardines.
The death toll from nearly four months of antigovernment protests climbed to at least 113 Friday as Venezuela’s opposition called on backers to defy a protest ban ahead of Sunday’s vote.
Ahead of the vote, the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro — the anointed successor of leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013 — issued a ban on public gatherings and protests through Tuesday. The opposition answered with a vow to pour into the streets nationwide, though how many would heed that call remained unclear.
In Caracas, a downpour dampened the early turnout, though clusters of demonstrators had begun to establish roadblocks. Rising tensions led the U.S. State Department late Wednesday to order family members of American staff at its embassy in Caracas to leave the country.
Opponents are boycotting Sunday’s vote, which would create a super-congress that could prolong Maduro’s rule. A whopping 6,120 candidates are running in the election, including Maduro’s son and wife, former officials and rankand-file government supporters. It would possess increased powers, including the right to change the constitution and supplant the National Assembly.
Though robbed of its power by the governmentcontrolled Supreme Court, the assembly is dominated by the opposition.
Though roads were blocked in eastern Caracas on Friday, the city center seemed normal, as did western parts of the capital.
Demonstrators said fear was apparently keeping some people away.
“I feel a bit sad (there aren’t more people here), but I am here for Venezuela,” said a 29-year-old protester who declined to give her name. She was stuffing fuses inside homemade Molotov cocktails at a flash point in western Caracas.
“Nothing is going to stop us. We need to stop this country from becoming a second Cuba,” she said.
One remote hope to fend off the vote rests with indirect talks being mediated by former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Opposition officials, however, said the prospect of canceling the vote remained an “illusion” while the government publicly gave no indication of backing down.