It comes a day after the leader announced a state of emergency amid the ongoing economic crisis crippling the country.
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Pro-government supporters were also out in force as the president threatened to seize idled factories and jail their owners, while warning that trouble-makers were stoking violence to justify a foreign invasion.
Despite a recall referendum against him, Maduro, a former bus driver who succeeded late president Hugo Chavez, vowed at a rally to “tell imperialism and the worldwide right that the people are present, with their farm instruments in one hand and a gun in the other… to defend this sacred land”.
Maduro said the measures will likely last through 2017, but he did not specify if they will limit civil rights. Non-government economists estimate the real inflation rate is several times higher. The announcement came two days after Venezuela’s oil price dropped to $24 a barrel, the lowest mark in 12 years.
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but its economy contracted 5.7 percent past year and its official inflation rate topped 180 percent.
He accused the United States last Friday of destabilising the country at the behest of the “fascist Venezuelan right”, prompting him to declare a state of emergency.
Two senior government officials, lawmaker Diosdado Cabello and Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, expressed support for Maduro on Twitter.
Opposition lawmaker Tomas Guanipa however believes that the state of emergency is aimed at “destabilizing the country to prevent the recall vote”.
Maduro announced the decree hours after Venezuelan opposition leaders met with Luis Almagro, the head of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Maduro regularly blames USA and local business interests for what his administration calls an “economic war” on oil-dependent Venezuela, whose economy has sunk in tandem with global crude prices.
The opposition called on protesters on Saturday to flood an avenue in western Caracas to push the authorities to allow a referendum to remove Maduro from power, in line with the constitution. “We don’t want the bomb to explode and, because of that, we call on everyone to mobilize in favour of a recall referendum in 2016”.
Under electoral rules, officials were supposed to have already authenticated the signatures and move to the next step toward holding a referendum.
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According to unnamed U.S. intelligence officials, Washington doubts that Mr Maduro will allow a recall referendum to take place this year, according to Reuters.
