Tag Archives: Chaos

Honduras awaits presidential vote count as army enforces curfew

Honduras awaits presidential vote count as army enforces curfew

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Honduras enforced a curfew on Saturday while still mired in chaos over a contested presidential election that has triggered looting and protests in which at least one person has died.

The government’s move on Friday evening to enact the nationwide curfew for 10 days and expand powers for the army and police was criticized by opposition leaders as a move to stifle protests over a presidential vote count that stalled for a fifth day without leaving a clear winner.

President Juan Orlando Hernandez has clawed back a thin lead over his challenger, TV-host Salvador Nasralla, but thousands of disputed votes could still swing the outcome.

Since last Sunday’s election, at least one protester has died, over 20 people were injured and more than 100 others were arrested for looting after opposition leaders accused the government of trying to steal the election by manipulating the vote count.

“The suspension of constitutional guarantees was approved so that the armed forces and the national police can contain this wave of violence that has engulfed the country,” said Ebal Diaz, member of the council of ministers, on Friday.

Under the decree, all local authorities must submit to the authority of the army and national police, which are authorized to break up blockades of roads, bridges and public buildings.

A 10-day dusk-to-dawn curfew started Friday night.

International concern has grown about the electoral crisis in the poor Central American country, which struggles with violent drug gangs and one of the world’s highest murder rates.

In the widely criticized vote count, Nasralla’s early lead on Monday was later reversed in favor of President Hernandez, leading Nasralla to call for protests.

The count stalled on Friday evening when the electoral tribunal said it would hand-count the remaining ballot boxes that had irregularities, comprising nearly 6 percent of the total vote.

The electoral tribunal said it was set to resume the vote count at 9 a.m. local time on Saturday, but Nasralla’s center-left alliance has refused to recognize the tribunal’s authority unless it recounts three regions with alleged vote irregularities.

The 64-year-old Nasralla is one of Honduras’ best-known faces and backed by former President Manuel Zelaya, a leftist ousted in a coup in 2009. He said on Friday that government infiltrators had started the looting and violence to justify a military curfew.

Hernandez, speaking to reporters after the curfew went into effect, said the government put the measure in place at the request of concerned citizen groups.

“As far as the curfew, I want to clarify that various sectors requested it…in order to guarantee the safety of the people,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz, Ana Isabel Martinez, Adriana Barrera and Daina Beth Solomon; Writing by Dave Graham and Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Michael Perry)

Desperate night search in Mexico school, other ruins as quake deaths pass 200

Desperate night search in Mexico school, other ruins as quake deaths pass 200

By David Alire Garcia and Adriana Barrera

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Desperate rescue workers scrabbled through rubble in a floodlit search on Wednesday for dozens of children feared buried beneath a Mexico City school, one of hundreds of buildings wrecked by the country’s most lethal earthquake in a generation.

The magnitude 7.1 shock killed at least 217 people, nearly half of them in the capital, 32 years to the day after a devastating 1985 quake. The disaster came as Mexico still reels from a powerful tremor that killed nearly 100 people in the south of the country less than two weeks ago.

Among the twisted concrete and steel ruin of the Enrique Rebsamen school, soldiers and firefighters found at least 22 dead children and two adults, while another 30 children and 12 adults were missing, President Enrique Pena Nieto said.

There were chaotic scenes at the school as bulldozers moved rubble under the buzz and glare of floodlights powered by generators, with parents clinging to hope their children had survived.

“They keep pulling kids out, but we know nothing of my daughter,” said 32-year-old Adriana D’Fargo, her eyes red after hours waiting for news of her seven-year-old.

Three survivors were found at around midnight as volunteer rescue teams formed after the 1985 quake and known as “moles” crawled deep under the rubble.

TV network Televisa reported that 15 more bodies, mostly children, had been recovered, while 11 children were rescued. The school is for children aged 3 to 14.

The earthquake toppled dozens of buildings, broke gas mains and sparked fires across the city and other towns in central Mexico. Falling rubble and billboards crushed cars.

In a live broadcast, one newsreader had time to say “this is not a drill”, before weaving his way out of the buckling studio.

Parts of colonial-era churches crumbled in the state of Puebla, where the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) located the quake’s epicenter, some 100 miles (158 km) southwest of the capital, at a depth of 51 km (32 miles).

As the earth shook, Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano, visible from the capital on a clear day, had a small eruption. On its slopes, a church in Atzitzihuacan collapsed during mass, killing 15 people, Puebla Governor Jose Antonio Gali said.

U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned the earthquake in a tweet, saying: “God bless the people of Mexico City. We are with you and will be there for you.”

In Rome, Pope Francis told pilgrims that he was praying for all the victims, the wounded, their families and the rescue workers in the majority Catholic country. “In this moment of pain, I want to express my closeness and prayers to all the beloved Mexican people,” he said.

NIGHT SEARCHES

Residents of Mexico City, a metropolitan region of some 20 million people, slept in the streets while authorities and volunteers set up tented collection centers to distribute food and water.

Volunteers, soldiers and firefighters formed human chains and dug with hammers and picks to find dust-covered survivors and dead bodies in the remains of apartment buildings, schools and a factory.

The middle-class neighborhood of Del Valle was hit hard, with several buildings toppling over on just one street. Reserve rescue workers arrived late at night and were still pulling survivors out in the small hours of Wednesday.

With power out in much of the city, the work was carried out in the dark or with flashlights and generators. Rescue workers requested silence as they listened for signs of life.

Some soldiers were armed with automatic weapons. Authorities said schools would be shut on Wednesday as damage was assessed.

Emergency personnel and equipment were being deployed across affected areas so that “throughout the night we can continue aiding the population and eventually find people beneath the rubble,” Peña Nieto said in a video posted on Facebook earlier on Tuesday evening.

In Obrera, central Mexico City, people applauded when rescuers managed to retrieve four people alive, with cheers of “si se puede” — “yes we can” — ringing out.

Volunteers continued arriving throughout the night, following calls from the civil protection agency, the Red Cross and firefighters.

The quake had killed 86 people in the capital by early Wednesday morning, according to Civil Protection chief Luis Felipe Puente — fewer than he had previously estimated. In Morelos State, just to the south, 71 people were killed, with hundreds of homes destroyed. In Puebla at least 43 died.

Another 17 people were reported killed in the states of Mexico, Guerrero and Oaxaca.

As many as 4.6 million homes, businesses and other facilities had lost electricity, according to national power company Comisión Federal de Electricidad, including 40 percent of homes in Mexico City.

Moises Amador Mejia, a 44-year-old employee of the civil protection agency, was working late into the night to rescue people trapped in a collapsed building in Mexico City’s bohemian Condesa neighborhood.

“The idea is to stay here until we find who is inside. Day and night.”

(Additional reporting by Anthony Esposito, Lizbeth Diaz, Daina Beth Solomon, Stefanie Eschenbacher, Julia Love, Noe Torres; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Catherine Evans and Chizu Nomiyama)

Opposition stays away as Kenyatta warns against ‘destructive division’

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta walks to inspect the honour guard before the opening of the 12th Parliament outside the National Assembly Chamber in Nairobi, Kenya September 12, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

By Katharine Houreld

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta opened parliament on Tuesday by warning against divisive and destructive politics, while opposition lawmakers boycotted the legislature and rallied to demand the resignation of election officials.

Kenya held parliamentary, presidential and local elections on Aug. 8, but the Supreme Court nullified the presidential results three weeks later, citing irregularities in the tallying process. New elections are scheduled for Oct. 17.

While calling for unity and respect for the constitution, Kenyatta delivered a thinly veiled warning to the opposition lawmakers who had chosen to stay away from parliament.

“My government will not tolerate anyone intent on disrupting our hard-won peace and stability. Under no circumstances must Kenyans ever allow our free competitive processes to become a threat to the peace and security of our nation,” he said, to foot-stamping and cheering from ruling party legislators.

“We shall continue to encourage vibrant democratic competition, we shall not allow destructive division.”

As he spoke, opposition leaders held a rally in Kibera, the capital’s largest slum, rejecting the Oct. 17 date unless officials on the election board, whom they blame for mishandling the polls, resign.

“Now we are putting it squarely to you that the Supreme Court of this country has found you incompetent,” said Kalonzo Musyoka, running mate of Kenyatta’s presidential rival Raila Odinga.

The surprise election annulment initially raised fears of short-term political turmoil in Kenya, the region’s richest nation and a staunch Western ally in a region roiled by conflict.

But it also raised hopes among frustrated opposition supporters, who believe the last three elections have been stolen from them, that the east African nation’s tarnished courts could deliver them justice.

That hope helped tamp down protests that threatened to spark the kind of violence that followed disputed 2007 elections, when around 1,200 people were killed in ethnic bloodletting.

In a separate development, a ruling party lawmaker and a former opposition senator appeared in a Nairobi court, charged with incitement to violence over speeches they had made in the past week. Both were freed on a 300,000 Kenya shilling ($3,000) bond.

A government body monitoring hate speech says that it has seen a spike since the Supreme Court ruling. More than three times as many incidents were reported in the week following the ruling than during the whole 10-week election campaign, it said.

 

(Additional reporting by Duncan Miriri and Humphrey Malalo; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

 

Charlottesville to cover Confederate statues after chaotic meeting

Charlottesville to cover Confederate statues after chaotic meeting

By Gina Cherelus

(Reuters) – City councilors in Charlottesville, Virginia, voted unanimously on Tuesday to cover two statues of Confederate war heroes in black fabric after ejecting spectators from a chaotic council meeting as residents demanded answers over how a recent white nationalist rally turned deadly.

Many activists and local residents crowded into the meeting, which began late Monday and spilled into the wee hours of Tuesday. It was the first council meeting since the Aug. 12 rally, when a car plowed into a group of counter-protesters and killed a 32-year-old woman.

Many at the meeting shouted at the councilors and Mayor Mike Signer, forcing them at one point to leave the chamber.

Videos posted on social media showed some in the crowd yelling “shame” and “shut it down” and calling for Signer’s resignation. A photo online showed two people holding a sign that read “Blood On Your Hands” behind the council seats.

When council members returned to the chamber after spectators were removed, they voted to cover the statues of General Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, said a city spokeswoman, Paige Rice.

“Council voted unanimously at their meeting to shroud the statues to reflect the city’s mourning,” Rice said.

The planned removal of a statue of Lee in a downtown Charlottesville park had galvanized white nationalists to rally there on Aug. 12 in protest. Charlottesville is home to the University of Virginia.

The rally highlights a persistent debate in the U.S. South over the display of the Confederate battle flag and other symbols of the rebel side in the Civil War, which was fought over the issue of slavery.

In the wake of the Charlottesville rally, other cities have acted to remove monuments to the Confederacy.

On Tuesday night, nearly 1,000 people rallied at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill for the removal of “Silent Sam,” a Confederate soldier statue on the campus.

“Hey, hey! Ho, ho! These racist statues got to go!” chanted a crowd that was kept away from the statue by two rings of barricades and police in riot gear.

The protest was largely peaceful, but two people were arrested, said the university’s communications department. No information on the charges levied, or details of the people arrested, were given.

There was no sign of professed white nationalists at the Chapel Hill rally.

In Charlottesville, the council voted to cover the Lee and Jackson statues with black fabric for now because of a pending lawsuit challenging the city’s authority to remove the statue of Lee.

During the council meeting, activists and residents questioned the police response to the Aug. 12 unrest and criticized city leaders for not heeding warnings in advance of the rally, Rice said. She said that three people were removed from the room.

Charlottesville police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The New York Times reported that the three people ejected from the meeting were issued citations for disorderly conduct.

Signer called last week for a special session of Virginia’s legislature to let localities decide the fate of Confederate monuments such as the Lee statue.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said that would be redundant because the statue’s fate is already subject to litigation, though he said he hoped the court will rule in the city’s favor.

The night before the Aug. 12 rally, scores of white supremacists descended on Charlottesville and marched with tiki torches through the campus of the University of Virginia in a display that critics called reminiscent of a Ku Klux Klan rally.

In response to the Charlottesville violence, actor George Clooney and his humanitarian lawyer wife, Amal Clooney, have donated $1 million to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a U.S. non-profit that tracks extremist groups.

Police detain a demonstrator during a protest against a statue of a Confederate solider nicknamed Silent Sam on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S. August 22, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake

Police detain a demonstrator during a protest against a statue of a Confederate solider nicknamed Silent Sam on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S. August 22, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake

(Additional reporting by Corey Risinger in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Leslie Adler and Himani Sarkar)

Trump threatens Venezuela with unspecified ‘military option’

Trump threatens Venezuela with unspecified 'military option'

By James Oliphant

BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday threatened military intervention in Venezuela, a surprise escalation of Washington’s response to Venezuela’s political crisis that Caracas disparaged as “craziness.”

Venezuela has appeared to slide toward a more volatile stage of unrest in recent days, with anti-government forces looting weapons from a military base after a new legislative body usurped the authority of the opposition-controlled congress.

“The people are suffering and they are dying. We have many options for Venezuela including a possible military option if necessary,” Trump told reporters in an impromptu question and answer session.

The comments appeared to shock Caracas, with Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino calling the threat “an act of craziness.”

The White House said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro requested a phone call with Trump on Friday, which the White House appeared to spurn, saying in a statement that Trump would gladly speak to Venezuela’s leader when democracy was restored in that country.

Venezuelan authorities have long said U.S. officials were planning an invasion. A former military general told Reuters earlier this year that some anti-aircraft missiles had been placed along the country’s coast for precisely that eventuality.

In Washington, the Pentagon said the U.S. military was ready to support efforts to protect U.S. citizens and America’s national interests, but that insinuations by Caracas of a planned U.S. invasion were “baseless.”

Trump’s suggestion of possible military action came in a week when he has repeatedly threatened a military response if North Korea threatens the United States or its allies.

Asked if U.S. forces would lead an operation in Venezuela, Trump declined to provide details. “We don’t talk about it but a military operation – a military option – is certainly something that we could pursue,” he said.

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized Trump’s new stance.

“Congress obviously isn’t authorizing war in Venezuela,” he said in a statement. “Nicolas Maduro is a horrible human being, but Congress doesn’t vote to spill Nebraskans’ blood based on who the Executive lashes out at today.”

‘MADURO MUST BE THRILLED’

The president’s comments conjured up memories of gunboat diplomacy in Latin America during the 20th century, when the United States regarded its “backyard” neighbors to the south as underlings who it could easily intimidate through conspicuous displays of military power.

The U.S. military has not directly intervened in the region since a 1994-1995 operation that aimed to remove from Haiti a military government installed after a 1991 coup.

Trump’s more aggressive discourse could be an asset to Maduro by boosting his credibility as a national defender.

“Maduro must be thrilled right now,” said Mark Feierstein, who was a senior aide on Venezuela matters to former U.S. president Barack Obama. “It’s hard to imagine a more damaging thing for Trump to say.”

The United States sanctioned Maduro and other Venezuelan officials in July after Maduro established a constituent assembly run by his Socialist Party loyalists and cracked down on opposition figures. The assembly’s election drew international condemnation and critics have said it removed any remaining checks on Maduro’s power.

Maduro says only continuing the socialist movement started by his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, can bring peace and prosperity to Venezuela, which is suffering from an economic collapse and widespread hunger.

Washington has not placed sanctions on the OPEC member’s oil industry, which supplies America with about 740,000 barrels per day of oil.

Venezuela possesses a stockpile of 5,000 Russian-made MANPADS surface-to-air weapons, according to military documents reviewed by Reuters. It has the largest known cache of the weapons in Latin America, posing a concern for U.S. officials during the country’s mounting turmoil.

The United Nations Security Council was briefed behind closed doors on Venezuela in May at the request of the United States. At the time, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Washington was just trying to raise awareness of the situation and was not seeking any action by the 15-member Security Council.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Additional reporting by Hugh Bronstein and Girish Gupta in Caracas; Writing by Jason Lange in Washington; Editing by Andrew Hay and Mary Milliken)

U.S. sanctions Venezuelan officials, one killed in anti-Maduro strike

Demonstrators use a tire on fire to block a street at a rally during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

By Matt Spetalnick and Alexandra Ulmer

WASHINGTON/CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) – The Trump administration imposed sanctions on 13 senior Venezuelan officials as the country’s opposition launched a two-day strike on Wednesday, heaping pressure on unpopular President Nicolas Maduro to scrap plans for a controversial new congress.

With clashes breaking out in some areas, a 30-year-old man was killed during a protest in the mountainous state of Merida, authorities said.

Venezuela’s long-time ideological foe the United States opted to sanction the country’s army and police chiefs, the national director of elections, and a vice president of the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) for alleged corruption and rights abuses.

U.S. President Donald Trump spared Venezuela for now from broader sanctions against its vital oil industry, but such actions were still under consideration.

U.S. officials said the individual sanctions aimed to show Maduro that Washington would make good on a threat of “strong and swift economic actions” if he goes ahead with a vote on Sunday that critics have said would cement dictatorship in the OPEC country.

The leftist leader was also feeling the heat at home, where protesters backing the 48-hour national strike blocked roads with makeshift barricades and many stores remained shut for the day.

“It’s the only way to show we are not with Maduro. They are few, but they have the weapons and the money,” said decorator Cletsi Xavier, 45, helping block the entrance to a freeway in upscale east Caracas with rope and iron metal sheets.

The opposition estimated that some 92 percent of businesses and workers adhered to the strike, although it offered no evidence for the figure. Overall, fewer people appeared to be heeding the shutdown than the millions who participated in a 24-hour strike last week when five people died in clashes.

State enterprises, including PDVSA [PDVSA.UL], stayed open and some working-class neighborhoods buzzed with activity. But hooded youths clashed with soldiers firing tear gas in various places including Caracas.

In western Merida state, Rafael Vergara was shot dead when troops and armed civilians confronted protesters, local opposition lawmaker Lawrence Castro told Reuters.

Local rights group Penal Forum said 50 people had been arrested and opposition lawmakers said at least 4 protesters had been shot.

A demonstrator wears a Venezuelan flag during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

A demonstrator wears a Venezuelan flag during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas, Venezuela July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

‘IMPERIALIST SANCTIONS’

Maduro has vowed to push ahead with Sunday’s vote for a Constituent Assembly, which will have power to rewrite the constitution and override the current opposition-led legislature.

The successor to late socialist leader Hugo Chavez says it will bring peace to Venezuela after four months of anti-government protests in which more than 100 people have been killed.

One of the U.S. officials warned the sanctions were just an initial round and the administration was readying tougher measures. The most serious option is financial sanctions that would halt dollar payments for the country’s oil or a total ban on oil imports to the United States, a top cash-paying client.

But policy makers continue to weigh the potential risks of such sanctions, which include inflicting further suffering on Venezuelans and raising U.S. domestic gasoline prices.

Even some of Maduro’s opponents have cautioned that he could rally his supporters under a nationalist banner if the United States goes too far on sanctions as Venezuelans endure a brutal economic crisis with shortages of food and medicine.

At a campaign-style rally for Sunday’s vote, broadcast on state TV late on Wednesday, a defiant Maduro presented some of those sanctioned with replicas of a sword belonging to Latin American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

“Congratulations for these imperialist sanctions,” he said, before handing out the symbolic swords. “What makes the imperialists of the United States think they are the world government?”

Among those sanctioned were national elections director Tibisay Lucena, PDVSA finance vice president Simon Zerpa, former PDVSA executive Erik Malpica, and prominent former minister Iris Varela.

Varela tweeted a picture of herself grinning and extending a middle finger toward the camera with a message that read: “This is my response to the gringos, like Chavez told them, ‘Go to hell, you piece of shit Yankees.'”

Elections boss Lucena is scorned by opposition activists, who have said that she has delayed regional elections and blocked a recall referendum against Maduro at the behest of an autocratic government. The opposition has also long accused PDVSA of being a nest of corruption.

A demonstrator gestures while clashing with riot security force at a rally during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

A demonstrator gestures while clashing with riot security force at a rally during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas, Venezuela July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

‘BAD ACTORS’

The U.S. officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the individuals targeted for sanctions were accused of supporting Maduro’s crackdown, harming democratic institutions or victimizing Venezuelans through corruption, and that additional “bad actors” could be sanctioned later.

Punitive measures include freezing U.S. assets, banning travel to the United States and prohibiting Americans from doing business with them.

Sanctions were imposed on the chief judge and seven other members of Venezuela’s pro-Maduro Supreme Court in May in response to their decision to annul the opposition-led Congress earlier this year.

That followed similar U.S. sanctions in February against Venezuela’s influential Vice President Tareck El Aissami for alleged links to drug trafficking.

Assets in the United States and elsewhere tied to El Aissami and an alleged associate and frozen by U.S. order now total hundreds of millions of dollars, far more than was expected, one of the U.S. officials told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Cawthorne, Corina Pons, Andreina Aponte, Anggy Polanco, Girish Gupta, and Fabian Cambero in Caracas, Francisco Aguilar in Barinas, Maria Ramirez in Puerto Ordaz, Mircely Guanipa in Punto Fijo, Isaac Urrutia in Maracaibo, Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Tom Brown, Toni Reinhold)

Venezuela’s opposition stages two-day anti-Maduro shutdown

Opposition supporters carry a flag with a cartoon of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro while attending a rally to pay tribute to victims of violence during protests against Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

By Alexandra Ulmer and Mircely Guanipa

CARACAS/PARAGUANA, Venezuela (Reuters) – President Nicolas Maduro’s adversaries launched a two-day national strike on Wednesday in a final push to pressure him into abandoning a weekend election for a super-congress they say will institutionalize autocracy in Venezuela.

Neighbors gathered from dawn in cities around Venezuela to block roads with rubbish, stones and tape, while many cafes and businesses remained closed in protest against the ruling Socialist Party’s planned Constituent Assembly vote.

“We need to paralyze the whole country,” said Flor Lanz, 68, standing with a group of women blocking the entrance to a freeway in upscale east Caracas with rope and iron sheets.

“I’m staying here for 48 hours. It’s the only way to show we are not with Maduro. They are few, but they have the weapons and the money,” added decorator Cletsi Xavier, 45, beside her.

There was less enthusiasm, however, for the strike in working-class neighborhoods and rural zones where the government has traditionally drawn more support.

Overall, fewer people appeared to be heeding the shutdown than the millions who participated in a 24-hour strike last week.

Many Venezuelans, regardless of their political view, were fretting about the impact of disruptions on their wallets – and stomachs. The OPEC nation is immersed in a brutal economic crisis, with shortages of basic foods and medicines.

“I closed last week, but now I need to open in order to eat,” said Isabel Fernandez, 36, who sells vegetables at a market in the Catia neighborhood of the capital where all the stalls were open albeit with fewer customers than normal.

The opposition, which has majority support after years in the shadow of Maduro’s popular predecessor Hugo Chavez, says Sunday’s election is a farce designed purely to keep the Socialist Party in power. Its No. 1 demand is conventional elections, including for the presidency, to remove Maduro.

MADURO: ‘WAR OR PEACE?’

The 54-year-old president, who calls himself “the son of Chavez” and flag bearer of his “21st century socialism” project, insists Sunday’s vote will go ahead despite intense pressure at home and abroad including a threat of U.S. economic sanctions.

Maduro says the election for the 545-seat assembly, which will have power to rewrite the national constitution and override the current opposition-led legislature, is designed to put power in the hands or ordinary people.

“We are going to decide between war and peace, the future or the past, the sovereign power of the people or the imperialist, oligarchical coup,” he told supporters late on Tuesday of the vote, which the opposition is boycotting.

Despite the no-compromise rhetoric on both sides, mediator and former Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was shuttling between the opposition and government. He discussed a proposal to postpone the vote, opposition sources said, but there was no evidence it was getting traction.

State enterprises, including oil company PDVSA that accounts for 95 percent of Venezuela’s export income, were staying open on Wednesday. Public employees – who number 2.8 million in total – had strict orders not to skip work and to vote on Sunday.

“Who can risk their work in moments like this?” said Elio Jimenez, 40, who works at an oil refinery in the Paraguana peninsula.

Five people died during last week’s strike as National Guard troops seeking to dismantle blockades fired tear gas and rubber bullets at masked youths hurling stones and Molotov cocktails.

That took to over 100 the number killed since protests against Maduro began in early April.

Venezuela’s best-known detained political leader, Leopoldo Lopez, issued a video overnight urging people to keep up protests. Lopez taped his 15-minute message from home in Caracas after recently being granted house arrest.

(Additional reporting by Diego Ore, Andrew Cawthorne and Fabian Cambero; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and W Simon)

Venezuela crisis enters pivotal week, Maduro foes protest

Demonstrators clash with riot security forces while rallying against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela. The banner on the bridge reads "It will be worth it" . REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

By Andrew Cawthorne and Anggy Polanco

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition plastered election centers with slogans and rallied in honor of dead protesters on Monday in a final week-long push to force President Nicolas Maduro into aborting a controversial congress.

The unpopular leftist leader is pressing ahead with the vote for a Constitutional Assembly on Sunday despite the opposition of most Venezuelans, a crescendo of international criticism, and some dissent within his ruling Socialist Party.

Critics say the assembly, whose election rules appear designed to ensure a majority for Maduro, is intended to institutionalize dictatorship in the South American nation, a member of OPEC.

But Maduro, 54, whose term runs until early 2019, insists it is the only way to empower the people and bring peace after four months of anti-government unrest that has killed more than 100 people and further hammered an imploding economy.

Knots of opposition supporters gathered at various centers where Venezuelans will vote on the assembly to leave messages, chant slogans and wave banners. “It’s preferable to die standing than to live on our knees!” said one poster at a Caracas school.

“They want to install a communist state in Venezuela, but we’re tired of getting poorer and will stay in the street because we do not want the Constituent Assembly,” said lawyer Jeny Caraballo, 41. “The people are saying ‘No’!”

The opposition, which has now won majority backing after years in the doldrums during the rule of Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez, also held nationwide rallies in the afternoon in honor of protesters slain during the crisis. Fatalities have included opposition and government supporters, bystanders and security officials.

Mourners gathered in Caracas with rosaries, candles and flags but National Guard soldiers on motorbikes interrupted the ceremony by lobbing tear gas at the crowd.

“The National Guard represses us even when we’re praying for our fallen ones,” opposition lawmaker Delsa Solorzano said on Twitter.

Later on Monday, rights group Penal Forum reported that lawyer Angel Zerpa, one of the new Supreme Court magistrates sworn in by the opposition in defiance of the government, had been charged with treason in a military court. Zerpa, who was first detained on Saturday, has gone on a hunger strike, Penal Forum director Alfredo Romero said.

48-HOUR NATIONAL SHUTDOWN

The Democratic Unity coalition has raised the stakes by calling a two-day national strike for Wednesday and Thursday, after millions participated in a 24-hour shutdown last week.

Young members of a self-styled “Resistance” movement said the moves by the formal opposition were not tough enough, and are threatening armed action. For months, youths have blockaded streets and used slingshots, stones, homemade mortars and Molotov cocktails to battle National Guard troops.

Soldiers have been shooting tear gas canisters straight at the protesters, and also using rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse them in near-daily running battles.

At the weekend, Maduro said his government was “ready for any scenario” and blasted his foes as “terrorists” servile to Washington. “We’re not surrendering to anyone!” he said.

The government has declared election centers “zones of special protection” and planned to deploy more than 230,000 soldiers to keep the peace on Sunday. On Monday, National Guard troops pulled down posters at some election centers to shouts of “murderers” from opposition supporters.

With U.S. President Donald Trump threatening economic sanctions on Venezuela, potentially aimed at the oil sector accounting for 95 percent of its export revenues, Maduro said he could count on “great friends” like China and India if needs be.

But the threat of sanctions on an already vulnerable Venezuela has spooked investors. Venezuelan bonds dropped on Monday on fears about the vote and possible sanctions.

Many families have been stocking up on food in preparation for trouble and shops being closed during a tumultuous-looking week. “It’s traumatic what we’re going through, but if it means an end to this nightmare, it will all be worth it,” said Nancy Ramirez, 33, lining up for rice at a store in Caracas.

Details have been scarce on what Maduro’s Constituent Assembly would actually do, but it would have power to rewrite the national charter – written under Chavez in 1999 – and override all other institutions.

Officials have said it would immediately replace the existing National Assembly legislature where the opposition won a majority in 2015 elections.

Consultancy Teneo Intelligence said the Constituent Assembly would be unlikely to change economic policy or the government’s approach to foreign debt. “This is primarily a political gambit to keep ‘Chavismo’ in power, not an ideological or policy pivot,” wrote analyst Nicholas Watson, in reference to the ruling socialist movement founded by Chavez.

(Additional reporting by Fabian Cambero and Alexandra Ulmer; Additional writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Andrew Hay and Bill Trott)

Millions heed anti-Maduro shutdown in Venezuela

riot police versus anti-maduro protesters

By Andrew Cawthorne and Girish Gupta

CARACAS (Reuters) – Many Venezuelan streets were barricaded and deserted on Thursday for a strike called by foes of President Nicolas Maduro to demand elections and the scrapping of plans for a new congress they fear would consolidate dictatorship in the OPEC country.

From the Andes to the Amazon, millions joined the 24-hour shutdown, staying at home, closing businesses or manning roadblocks in a civil disobedience campaign the opposition hopes will end nearly two decades of socialist rule. Two young men died in the unrest, authorities said.

“We must all do our best to get rid of this tyrant,” said Miguel Lopez, 17, holding a homemade shield emblazoned with “No To Dictatorship!” at a barrier on a Caracas street devoid of traffic.

Many private transportation groups heeded the strike call, while students, neighbors and activists hauled rubbish and furniture into streets to erect makeshift barriers. The opposition said 85 percent of the country joined the strike.

In some places, however, such as the poor Catia and January 23rd neighborhoods of Caracas, streets and shops were still buzzing, while motorbike taxis replaced buses.

“I have to work to subsist, but if I could, I would strike,” said clothes seller Victor Sanabria, 49, in the southern town of San Felix. “We’re tired of this government.”

In a speech, Maduro vowed some of the strike leaders would be jailed and insisted the action was minimal, with the 700 leading food businesses, for example, still working.

He said opposition supporters attacked the headquarters of state TV and burned a kiosk of the government postal service, but were repelled by workers and soldiers. “I’ve ordered the capture of all the fascist terrorists,” he said, singling out a Caracas district mayor, Carlos Ocariz, for blame.

In clashes elsewhere, security forces fired tear gas at protesters manning barricades. Youths shot fireworks at them from homemade mortars.

Ronney Tejera, 24, and Andres Uzcategui, 23, died after being shot during protests, the state prosecutor’s office said. More than 170 people were arrested by late afternoon, a local rights group said.

DEATHS

Violence during four months of anti-government unrest has taken around 100 lives, injured thousands, left hundreds in jail and further damaged an economy in its fourth year of a debilitating decline.

Clashes have occurred daily since the opposition Democratic Unity coalition and a self-styled youth-led “Resistance” movement took to the streets in April. In the latest fatality, a man confronting protesters was burned to death this week in the northern coastal town of Lecheria, media and authorities said.

Leaders of Venezuela’s 2.8 million public employees said state businesses and ministries remained open on Thursday.

“I’m on strike ‘in my heart’ because if we don’t turn up, they will fire us,” said a 51-year-old engineer heading to work at state steel plant Sidor in southern Bolivar state.

Oil company PDVSA, which brings in 95 percent of Venezuela’s export revenue, was not affected.

In an internal memo seen by Reuters, PDVSA ordered “all workers to strictly comply with working hours” and stressed that failure to show up would lead to “sanctions.”

“The Constituent Assembly is going ahead!” PDVSA president Eulogio Del Pino said on state TV, referring to Maduro’s plan to create a super-legislature in a July 30 vote to replace the current opposition-controlled National Assembly.

As the PDVSA president spoke he was surrounded by red-shirted oil workers in Monagas state chanting “they will not return” in reference to opposition aspirations to take power.

Some Venezuelans grumbled that Thursday’s strike would cost them money at a time of extreme hardship.

“How can I eat if I don’t work?” said Jose Ramon, 50, chopping bananas and melons at his stall in a market in Catia.

By early evening, the strike seemed far more successful for the opposition than a similar action last year, which had a lukewarm response after Maduro vowed to seize closed businesses.

“The streets are desolate, including close to the dictator,” said opposition leader Freddy Guevara, tweeting pictures of empty avenues including near the Miraflores presidential palace.

“We fill and empty the streets when we choose in protest.”

“SANCTION ME”

Venezuela’s opposition now has majority support and said it drew 7.5 million people over the weekend for a symbolic referendum against the proposed assembly, which 98 percent of voters rejected.

Maduro also faces widespread foreign pressure to abort the assembly, which could rewrite the constitution and supersede other institutions.

The opposition is boycotting the vote, whose rules seem designed to guarantee a government majority in the new congress.

U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in on the dispute this week, threatening economic sanctions if the July 30 vote goes ahead. Individual sanctions could be applied to Maduro allies such as Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino or Socialist Party No. 2 Diosdado Cabello, U.S. officials have told Reuters.

“If they don’t sanction me, I would feel bad!” mocked Cabello at a rally of supporters on Thursday.

As well as a presidential election, Venezuela’s opposition is also demanding freedom for more than 400 jailed activists, autonomy for the legislature and foreign humanitarian aid.

(Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte, Diego Ore, Corina Pons, and Alexandra Ulmer in Caracas, Franciso Aguilar in Barinas, Anggy Polanco in San Cristobal, Maria Ramirez in Ciudad Guayana, Isaac Urrutia in Maracaibo, Mircely Guanipa in Punto Fijo; Editing by Tom Brown, Toni Reinhold)

Opposition seeks to paralyze Venezuela in anti-Maduro strike

Pedestrians walk past a barricade during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, July 19, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Andrew Cawthorne and Diego Oré

CARACAS (Reuters) – Foes of Venezuela’s unpopular President Nicolas Maduro are calling for a national shutdown on Thursday to demand a presidential election and the abandonment of a new congress they fear would cement dictatorship.

The majority-backed opposition want Venezuelans to close businesses, halt transport and barricade streets as part of a civil disobedience campaign they have called “zero hour” to try and end nearly two decades of Socialist Party rule.

Student and transport groups said they would heed the call and many small businesses vowed to stay shut. Neighbors coordinated blocking off streets and families planned to keep children behind doors in case of trouble.

“I’ve no doubt Venezuelans will paralyze the nation in rebellion,” opposition lawmaker and street activist Juan Requesens told Reuters of the strike planned for 24 hours from 6 a.m. (0600EST) across the oil-producing nation.

“The dictatorship wants to impose an illegal Constitutional Assembly by force to perpetuate itself in power,” Requesens added of the government’s plan for a July 30 vote for a legislative super-body that could re-write the constitution.

Bosses at state-run companies – including oil company PDVSA which brings in 95 percent of Venezuela’s export revenue – ordered nearly 3 million public employees to ignore the strike. No oil disruptions were expected.

With Venezuela already brimming with shuttered stores and factories amid a blistering economic crisis, even a successful strike would have limited financial impact.

“IT WILL FAIL”

“Most Venezuelans want to work,” Maduro’s son, also called Nicolas and a candidate for the Constitutional Assembly, told local radio. “I’m sure it will fail.”

A similar opposition strike call last year had a lukewarm response, amid government threats to seize any closed businesses. But Maduro’s critics have gained momentum since then.

Anti-government protesters have been on the streets for nearly four months and Maduro faces widespread foreign pressure to abort the Constitutional Assembly which officials have said would replace the current opposition-led legislature.

U.S. President Donald Trump weighed into the dispute this week, threatening economic sanctions if the assembly goes ahead. The opposition is boycotting the July 30 vote which has complicated rules seemingly designed to guarantee a government majority despite its minority popular support.

Recalling a 36-hour coup against his charismatic and far more popular predecessor Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president has said his foes are seeking to oust him by force.

Venezuela’s opposition is also demanding freedom for more than 400 jailed activists, autonomy for the legislature, and foreign humanitarian aid. Some 100 people have died in anti-government unrest since April.

(Additional reporting by Franciso Aguilar in Barinas; Editing by Alexandra Ulmer and Andrew Hay)