Venezuela’s opposition on Sunday voted en masse against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his plan to rewrite the constitution, hoping to use the success to demand a change of government after nearly four months of violent protests.
Deadly violence returned as a 61-year-old woman was killed and three other people were wounded when shooters on motorcycles opened fire on people lined up to vote in Catia, a working-class neighborhood in the capital, prosecutors said.
Nearly 7.2 million Venezuelans — less than the projected 10.5 million out of 19 million possible voters — cast ballots in the symbolic election against Maduro, university guarantors said, with 95 percent of votes counted.
Photo: Bloomberg
Venezuela “sent a clear message to the national executive and the world,” Central University of Venezuela president Cecilia Garcia Arocha said, adding that 6,492,381 voted in the country and 693,789 abroad.
Final results would be released today, Garcia said.
“We do not want to be Cuba, we do not want to be a country without freedom,” Venezuelan National Assembly President Julio Borges said. “Today, Venezuela said yes to a dignified country, a democratic country, a country where people do not have to go because they have no future. The mandate the people have given us is clear.”
The woman’s death brought to 96 the number of people who have died in nearly four months of protests and political agitation in Venezuela’s streets.
The opposition blamed the attack on “paramilitary groups” linked to the government.
The central question before voters concerned Maduro’s intention to hold an election on July 30 to choose 545 members of a citizens’ body called the “constituent assembly” that would redo the constitution.
A dry run of that election was also held on Sunday, to detract from the opposition vote which the government said was “illegal.”
Maduro told the opposition to “not go crazy” with the results of its vote, although the head of the national electoral council told the opposition that the result would have “no legal consequence.”
Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affiars Samuel Moncada said on government-run VTV television that he was declaring former Mexican president Vicente Fox persona non grata and banning him from the country for conspiring to instigate violence and foreign intervention.
Moncada did not provide evidence to back his claims.
Fox, who left Venezuela late on Sunday, had traveled to the country with several other Latin American ex-leaders in a show of support for the opposition’s referendum.
The Mexican government, critical of Maduro, called for the results of the opposition consultation to lead to a “negotiated solution” to help “restore” democracy.
However, ordinary Venezuelans — blaming food and medicine shortages on Maduro’s policies — seized on the vote as a way of telling the president to leave office.
People took to Caracas’ streets after the vote shouting “this government is falling” as motorists honked their horns in celebration.
Many wore white and the colors of the national flag as they cast their votes.
Government supporters — and public workers worried about keeping their jobs — stayed away.
Borges said the vote was a watershed moment “in this fight to win back democracy for Venezuela.”
The opposition accuses Maduro of driving the country into bankruptcy, and of using the constituent assembly to entirely sideline the legislature.
The president says the opposition is collaborating with the “imperialist” US to topple his government.
However, some cracks are appearing in his camp. The most stark was the rebellion of Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega, who came out against the constituent assembly. She holds onto her office, for now, remaining a potent voice of dissent in government.
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
RSS