Venezuela’s political crisis has deepened after the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, predicted that the opposition-controlled parliament would soon “disappear” while his political rivals prepared for a day of protests in the capital to demand a recall vote.
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Thousands of people turned out for the march in downtown Caracas, but police blocked the route.
But security forces were out in force, and used tear gas to control a group of protesters who tried to break a police line.
During the weekend, Maduro declared a 60-day state of emergency, widening his powers to sidestep the legislature, intervene in the economy and control the streets, because of what he called USA and domestic plots against him.
The heated rhetoric was matched by opposition leader Henrique Capriles, a former presidential candidate and current governor of Miranda state who said Maduro’s apparent intention to go through with an emergency decree was unconstitutional.
“If Maduro wants to apply this decree, he needs to start preparing tanks and warplanes, because he’ll have to apply it by force”, Capriles said.
“The protesters and opposition leaders are of course calling for a referendum to remove Maduro from power”.
The opposition claims that the state of emergency seeks only to delay the steps needed to trigger a recall vote that could end with Maduro’s dismissal.
But the opposition blames the mistaken policies of Mr Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, for the crisis.
The protesters were demanding authorities stop stalling over a recall referendum called for by a petition of 1.8 million signatures.
Unrest has been growing because of food shortages and power and water cuts.
The letter comes after Maduro made heated statements Tuesday accusing Almagro of becoming a traitor giving a helping hand to the Central Intelligence Agency and USA interests.
Using images of South American independence leader Simon Bolivar as his backdrop, Maduro said he would do everything to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty and spoke out against interference by the U.S. and its allies in places such as Iraq and Libya.
The number of people killed in Venezuela in the first three month of this year has outstripped the civilian toll of Afghanistan’s war in all of 2015, the New York Times noted in an editorial damning Maduro’s rule.
In an attempt to impede attendance at Wednesday’s march, Caracas officials closed 14 subway stations, apparently on the orders of Mayor Jorge Rodriguez, a Maduro ally.
The opposition scored a stunning landslide victory in legislative elections in December amid growing frustration with socialist President Nicolas Maduro’s handling of the economy. But 70% of the population wants to see a new government, polls show.
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The US Boeing 707 E-3 Sentry is reported to have illegally entered Venezuela’s national airspace on May 11th at 6.09am, as well as on May 13th at 6.03 am.
