Venezuela’s opposition-majority legislature on Sunday declared that President Nicolas Maduro’s government had committed a coup d’etat by blocking a referendum on removing him from power, vowing mass protests and international pressure.
Furious over the electoral authorities’ decision to suspend the process of organizing a recall vote, opposition lawmakers passed a resolution declaring “the breakdown of constitutional order” and “a coup d’etat committed by the Nicolas Maduro regime.”
The measure came during an emergency session on the economic and political crisis gripping the South American oil giant, which briefly descended into chaos when a group of Maduro supporters forced its way past security guards and burst into the National Assembly, causing lawmakers to halt the proceedings for 45 minutes.
Photo: AFP
The legislators then called on Venezuelans to “actively defend” the constitution, declaring they would ask the international community to “activate mechanisms” to restore democracy.
“An ongoing coup d’etat has been perpetrated in Venezuela, culminating in the decision to rob us of a recall referendum. We’re here to officially declare the regrettable and painful rupture of constitutional order,” said majority leader Julio Borges of the center-right opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable.
The assembly yesterday was to “lay the groundwork for a session that would include a legal and political trial of the president ... to determine what his role is in the interruption of constitutional order,” Borges said.
Pro-Maduro lawmakers accused the opposition itself of seeking to stage a coup.
“Don’t try to take advantage of these hard times to finish off our nation,” Deputy Earle Herrera said.
Despite its harsh words, the legislature’s resolution is largely symbolic. The Venezuelan Supreme Court has declared the legislative majority in contempt of court for defying it by swearing in three lawmakers at the center of an electoral fraud investigation.
The opposition, which says the accusations are trumped up, condemns the high court as a Maduro lapdog.
The court has slapped down every bill passed by the legislature since the opposition took control in January.
Lawmakers nevertheless said they were going to address the issue of Maduro’s purported dual nationality — Colombian and Venezuelan — in session today. If confirmed, it would make him ineligible to be president.
Ruling party bloc leader Hector Rodriguez said that Maduro sent a message from the Middle East: “Tell them that I send my greeting, send a hug and that I will see them at the table to have a dialogue.”
Venezuela’s crisis hit a new low on Thursday when the National Electoral Council indefinitely suspended the recall referendum process after criminal courts in five states ruled the opposition had committed fraud in an initial petition drive.
Holding a recall referendum was the opposition’s main strategy to get rid of the man they accuse of driving the once-booming country to the brink of collapse.
The opposition had been gearing up for the last hurdle in the complex process: a three-day drive starting on Wednesday to collect signatures from 4 million voters demanding a recall vote.
Opposition leaders now say they will launch a new wave of nationwide protests tomorrow.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese