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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| As Maduro calls for new constitution, Venezuela veers once again toward political chaos |
| 2017-05-03 |
| [LAT] Already reeling from massive antigovernment marches in recent weeks, Venezuela is bracing for more demonstrations Wednesday as increasingly vocal activists protest the surprise plan by President Nicolas Maduro to draft a new constitution. Opposition leaders condemned the proposal as an antidemocratic move that will only aggravate the country’s ongoing political crisis. Maduro critics expressed their outrage at the plan at a time when his government has curtailed the powers of the opposition-controlled National Assembly and indefinitely postponed elections of governors and mayors. Henrique Capriles, an opposition leader and governor of Miranda state, said at a news conference Tuesday that the Maduro plan was a “constitutional fraud” and a “mechanism to do away once and for all with the National Assembly.” He called on supporters to go to the streets Wednesday to voice their opposition to the plan. Late Monday, opposition Assemblyman Julio Borges, who heads an alliance of opposition parties, said the aim of the new constitutional assembly would be to “dissolve democracy and the republic…. It’s a swindle designed to fool the people.” The United States and countries throughout Latin America have denounced the Maduro government in recent weeks. In response Venezuela has threatened to withdraw from the Organization of American States. On Tuesday, Michael Fitzpatrick, the State Department deputy assistant secretary for the Western Hemisphere, told reporters in Washington that the U.S. will talk to other countries in the region to consider imposing new sanctions on Venezuela in light of Maduro’s recent crackdown on dissent. Maduro’s approval rating has plummeted to 21%, according to a recent poll by Datincorp, a political consulting agency, as even past supporters grow weary of food shortages, violent crime and a collapsed economy. “The current constitution is a nothing but an obstacle for the new radical phase of the ‘revolution,’” said Datincorp analyst Jesus Seguias in a text to the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. “From here on out, the socialist plan of [the Maduro government] is possible only in a dictatorship.” In a televised speech Monday night, Maduro said half of the constitutional assembly’s delegates would come from groups representing “the working-class base, the communes, the social movements, handicapped groups, retirees, indigenous, students and youth.” The remaining 250 delegates would be elected by Venezuelan voters at large. Capriles, who urged Maduro opponents to boycott such an election, said voting for “all delegates to such an assembly has to be direct, universal and secret.” Luis Salamanca, political science professor at Central University of Venezuela in Caracas , said Maduro’s plan is a political calculation, not a constitutional one. “Maduro is looking for a way to avoid elections that should be held soon: governors and mayors this year and presidential elections in 2018, and to preserve his power without them,” Salamanca said. Salamanca added that another reason for the new constitution would likely be “to take the National Assembly out of play and create a communal parliament so that Maduro could assume absolute powers, like a monarch, liquidating the republic.” |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #1 On three,1, 2, 3. "We have to protect our phoony baloney jobs!" |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2017-05-03 06:08 |