Riot police firing tear gas blocked a 1,000-strong anti-government protest in the center of Caracas on Wednesday, one of 20 opposition rallies across crisis-hit Venezuela venting fury at President Nicolas Maduro and demanding his ouster.
The demonstrations were the first major test of a state of emergency the unpopular Maduro imposed this week that gives broad powers to security forces to maintain public order.
The protesters were demanding authorities stop stalling over a recall referendum called for by a petition with 1.8 million signatures.
In a stinging rebuke to Maduro's dismissal of the referendum as "not viable" and his increasing authoritarianism, the head of the Organization of American States called the Venezuelan president a "traitor" to his people.
OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said in an open letter that if Maduro impedes the referendum, he would become "just another petty dictator, like so many this Hemisphere has had."
In Caracas, hundreds of officers with shields, helmets and pepper spray formed a barrier to prevent the protest, headed by opposition leader Henrique Capriles, from reaching the headquarters of the National Electoral Council (CNE), which has been parsing the petition for two weeks.
Some police fired tear gas at the demonstrators, a few of whom threw stones and bottles. AFP reporters saw at least four people arrested.
"Recall! Recall! Maduro Out!" protesters yelled, holding aloft anti-government placards and Venezuelan flags.
"The referendum can be held this year, and you know this. Let's avoid an explosion" of public frustration, Capriles said at the demonstration.
Preventing more protesters from joining the demonstration, 14 metro stations in the heart of the capital were shuttered on Wednesday for "operational reasons."
- Security 'threats' -
Maduro's 60-day state of emergency was imposed Monday to tackle what Maduro said were threats to domestic and external security, as well as critical food and energy shortages.
It suspends many constitutional protections and opens the way to expropriations and almost any action deemed necessary to put down challenges to the government's authority.
The congress, controlled by the opposition, rejected the decree in a vote Tuesday.
But the Supreme Court, which has many judges appointed by Maduro's late predecessor Hugo Chavez, may overrule that, as it has other congressional decisions.
Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz said the referendum was a "trap" and called on the opposition to focus on scheduled elections in December 2019.
"If you win, Maduro will give up power. Easy. What's the problem?" he asked.
Maduro claims the adversity he is facing is manipulated by US interference working with Venezuela's "fascist" right.
By way of evidence, he said a US AWACS surveillance plane twice violated his country's airspace last week, something the US Defense Department denied on Wednesday.
To counter the possibility of foreign "armed intervention" Maduro has ordered military exercises for Saturday.
The opposition has urged the public to defy the state of emergency and called on the army to decide whether it sides "with the constitution or with Maduro."
Capriles on Tuesday said: "If Maduro wants to apply this decree he will have to bring out the warplanes and the tanks into the street, because he will have to apply it through force."
In Wednesday's protest, the parliamentary speaker, Henry Ramos Allup, urged the government to come to a peaceful resolution over the crisis.
"We don't want a bloodbath nor a coup d'etat," he said.
- 'The people want food' -
If the opposition manages to bring about a recall referendum, the vote must constitutionally be held before January 10, 2017 in order to trigger new elections.
Otherwise a successful recall vote would simply transfer power to the vice president.
With the country in the grip of hyperinflation, a shrinking economy, rampant crime, corruption, and food and electricity shortages, sentiment has turned against Maduro.
Seventy percent of the population wants to see a new government, polls show.
"The people are going hungry. We are tired of lining up, of killing ourselves for just a carton of eggs or some bread," said Migdalia Lopez, 51, lining up for bread in the town of Guarenas, east of the capital.
Lopez said she used to be a stalwart voter for Chavez and his "socialist revolution," and initially gave her support to Maduro. But not anymore.
"Now the people no longer want revolution," she said. "What they want is food."
Riot police firing tear gas blocked a 1,000-strong anti-government protest in the center of Caracas on Wednesday, one of 20 opposition rallies across crisis-hit Venezuela venting fury at President Nicolas Maduro and demanding his ouster.
The demonstrations were the first major test of a state of emergency the unpopular Maduro imposed this week that gives broad powers to security forces to maintain public order.
The protesters were demanding authorities stop stalling over a recall referendum called for by a petition with 1.8 million signatures.
In a stinging rebuke to Maduro’s dismissal of the referendum as “not viable” and his increasing authoritarianism, the head of the Organization of American States called the Venezuelan president a “traitor” to his people.
OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said in an open letter that if Maduro impedes the referendum, he would become “just another petty dictator, like so many this Hemisphere has had.”
In Caracas, hundreds of officers with shields, helmets and pepper spray formed a barrier to prevent the protest, headed by opposition leader Henrique Capriles, from reaching the headquarters of the National Electoral Council (CNE), which has been parsing the petition for two weeks.
Some police fired tear gas at the demonstrators, a few of whom threw stones and bottles. AFP reporters saw at least four people arrested.
“Recall! Recall! Maduro Out!” protesters yelled, holding aloft anti-government placards and Venezuelan flags.
“The referendum can be held this year, and you know this. Let’s avoid an explosion” of public frustration, Capriles said at the demonstration.
Preventing more protesters from joining the demonstration, 14 metro stations in the heart of the capital were shuttered on Wednesday for “operational reasons.”
– Security ‘threats’ –
Maduro’s 60-day state of emergency was imposed Monday to tackle what Maduro said were threats to domestic and external security, as well as critical food and energy shortages.
It suspends many constitutional protections and opens the way to expropriations and almost any action deemed necessary to put down challenges to the government’s authority.
The congress, controlled by the opposition, rejected the decree in a vote Tuesday.
But the Supreme Court, which has many judges appointed by Maduro’s late predecessor Hugo Chavez, may overrule that, as it has other congressional decisions.
Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz said the referendum was a “trap” and called on the opposition to focus on scheduled elections in December 2019.
“If you win, Maduro will give up power. Easy. What’s the problem?” he asked.
Maduro claims the adversity he is facing is manipulated by US interference working with Venezuela’s “fascist” right.
By way of evidence, he said a US AWACS surveillance plane twice violated his country’s airspace last week, something the US Defense Department denied on Wednesday.
To counter the possibility of foreign “armed intervention” Maduro has ordered military exercises for Saturday.
The opposition has urged the public to defy the state of emergency and called on the army to decide whether it sides “with the constitution or with Maduro.”
Capriles on Tuesday said: “If Maduro wants to apply this decree he will have to bring out the warplanes and the tanks into the street, because he will have to apply it through force.”
In Wednesday’s protest, the parliamentary speaker, Henry Ramos Allup, urged the government to come to a peaceful resolution over the crisis.
“We don’t want a bloodbath nor a coup d’etat,” he said.
– ‘The people want food’ –
If the opposition manages to bring about a recall referendum, the vote must constitutionally be held before January 10, 2017 in order to trigger new elections.
Otherwise a successful recall vote would simply transfer power to the vice president.
With the country in the grip of hyperinflation, a shrinking economy, rampant crime, corruption, and food and electricity shortages, sentiment has turned against Maduro.
Seventy percent of the population wants to see a new government, polls show.
“The people are going hungry. We are tired of lining up, of killing ourselves for just a carton of eggs or some bread,” said Migdalia Lopez, 51, lining up for bread in the town of Guarenas, east of the capital.
Lopez said she used to be a stalwart voter for Chavez and his “socialist revolution,” and initially gave her support to Maduro. But not anymore.
“Now the people no longer want revolution,” she said. “What they want is food.”
