CARACAS, Venezuela-Tens of thousands of antigovernment protesters descended on this capital Thursday for a last-gasp effort to pressure President Nicolás Maduro to permit a recall referendum they hope will oust his Socialist government and end severe food shortages, rampant crime and the world’s highest inflation.
Advertisement
Swearing loyalty to Chavez’s legacy and calling opposition leaders a wealthy elite intent on controlling Venezuela’s oil, thousands of red-shirted government supporters also gathered for counter-rallies.
Venezuela’s government says the opposition has a nefarious aim: violence in the streets. “There’s no eggs, there’s no chicken, there’s nothing here”, one group yelled.
Chanting “this government will fall!” Maduro estimated his supporters’ turnout at up to 30,000. At least a dozen opposition campaigners were still in custody on Thursday, according to rights groups and the opposition. If Maduro loses, new elections would be held and polls indicate the opposition would win. “We have to demand a recall referendum this year”.
The schedule for the recall referendum was announced on August 10 by the National Electoral Council president, Tibisay Lucena, and the next stage of the process was announced Monday and will be held from October 24-30, when the right-wing forces, led by the Democratic Unity Roundtable, will have to collect 20 percent of signatures from registered voters in order for the recall process to move forward, representing 3.9 million people in total.
The government reportedly arrested opposition leaders and announced its own march by government supporters as an alleged “guarantee of peace” on the same day.
“Today is the beginning of the final stage of our fight”, said Jesus Torrealba, secretary-general of the Democratic Unity alliance. The “Toma de Caracas” (the taking of Caracas) started taking shape. Many wore white, a symbol of their commitment to peaceful protest.
“We’re hungry in Venezuela”.
“I send my honest greeting to all those Venezuelans who think differently from us”, said Maduro, who estimated the opposition drew some 25,000 people the streets. But the welder has changed his mind.
Had the government minimized the protest’s importance it would have likely failed to garner much support, he said.
Maduro blames the crisis on the collapse of oil prices and an “economic war” by businesses backed by USA “imperialism”.
Shortages are so acute that people routinely have to stand on line for hours outside stores, hoping to get food and medicine. Inflation is expected to hit over 700 percent this year.
Several key opposition figures were detained in the run-up to the march on charges they were planning acts of violence during the protests. He said National Guard members were out in force on the main highways leading to Caracas. They were very aggressive and violent.
Advertisement
“Even as activists boasted of holding the capital”s largest rally, it”s far from clear whether it marks some sort of turning point for the Andean nation and Maduro, who narrowly won election in 2013. Others said they could not find work, or that their cities were plagued by violence and suffering from a lack of government presence.
