Tag Archives: Food Shortage

Venezuela’s new chief prosecutor vows to jail protest leaders

Delcy Rodriguez (R), president of the National Constituent Assembly, speaks next to Venezuela's chief prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, during a meeting of the Truth Commission in Caracas, Venezuela August 16, 2017. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

By Hugh Bronstein

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela will hunt down and jail leaders of violent protests that have rocked the country since April, its new top prosecutor said on Thursday, a day before a hate crimes law was expected to be approved despite fears that it will be used to crush dissent.

The new law “against hate and intolerance,” denounced by rights groups as a sham aimed at persecuting the opposition, was set to be approved on Friday by a new legislative superbody elected last month at the behest of President Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro loyalist Delcy Rodriguez, head of the body known as the constituent assembly, said the law would be passed before the weekend. She spoke to the assembly following a speech by chief prosecutor Tarek Saab, appointed by the assembly early this month, who vowed to track down the leaders of protests in which more than 120 people have died since the start of April.

“It will be a point of honor for the public prosecutor’s office to identify who was responsible for each of the hate crimes that occurred in this country,” Saab, Maduro’s ex-human rights ombudsman, shouted during a speech to the assembly.

“We will search the cameras, videos, photographs. We will get images of each one of them to make sure they pay for having killed, for having hurt people and left orphans behind,” he said to a standing ovation by the Socialist Party-dominated assembly.

The international community, however, has pointed at the Maduro government, not opposition demonstrators, when assigning blame for deaths.

Venezuelan security forces and pro-government groups were believed responsible for the deaths of at least 73 demonstrators since April, the United Nations said in an Aug. 8 report.

Abuses of protesters, including torture, were part of “the breakdown of the rule of law” in the oil-rich but economically-ailing nation, the report said.

Those found guilty of expressing hate or intolerance will be punished with up to 25 years in jail, according to the vaguely worded hate crimes bill.

Groups like Human Rights Watch say it would give Maduro’s government carte blanche to take opposition leaders out of circulation ahead of October gubernatorial elections.

The assembly has established a truth commission to investigate opposition candidates to ensure that any who were involved in violent protests would be barred from running for governorships, Rodriguez said.

The opposition, which won control of congress in 2015 only to see its decisions nullified by Maduro’s loyalist Supreme Court, boycotted the July 30 election of the constituent assembly. The body has sweeping powers to re-write Venezuela’s constitution and even give Maduro permission to rule by decree.

(Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Editing by Michael Perry; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Venezuela’s Maduro calls for military exercises after Trump threat

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro stands next to a sign that reads "Trump go away from Latin America" gives a speech at a rally against U.S President Donald Trump in Caracas, Venezuela August 14, 2017. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

By Brian Ellsworth and Hugh Bronstein

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday called for military exercises after U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of a possible armed intervention in the country, but Maduro insisted he still wanted to hold talks with the U.S. leader.

As Maduro told supporters in Caracas to prepare for an “imperialist” invasion, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence sought to calm concerns in the region about Trump’s talk, promising a peaceful solution to Venezuela’s “collapse into dictatorship.”

The unpopular Maduro, struggling with a disintegrating economy at home and increasing diplomatic isolation abroad, has used Trump’s comments on Friday to reaffirm long-standing accusations that Washington is preparing a military attack.

“Everyone has to join the defense plan, millions of men and women, let’s see how the American imperialists like it,” Maduro told supporters, urging them to join the two-day operation on Aug 26 and 27 involving both soldiers and civilians.

Thousands of government supporters rallied in Caracas where they denounced Trump’s suggestion of a “military option” to resolve Venezuela’s crisis.

Over 120 people have been killed since anti-government protests began in April, driven by outrage over shortages of food and medicine and Maduro’s creation of a legislative superbody that governments around the world say is dictatorial.

Maduro said Trump’s advisors had confused him about the true situation in Venezuela.

“I want to talk by phone with Mr. Trump, to tell him ‘They’re fooling you, Trump, everything they tell you about Venezuela is a lie. They’re throwing you off a cliff.'”

The White House last week rebuffed Maduro’s request to speak to Trump, saying the president would talk with Venezuela’s leader when the country returned to democracy.

‘FAILED STATE’

Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino appeared in a televised broadcast with dozens of battle-ready troops behind him at an army base, including soldiers with shoulder-fired missile launchers pointed skyward.

In a speech, he warned that the United States wanted to steal the OPEC nation’s oil reserves.

Late socialist leader Hugo Chavez frequently staged military exercises during his 14-year rule, many of which involved defending the country against mock foreign armies.

Critics generally dismissed them as bravado meant to distract from problems at home.

Venezuela’s opposition coalition on Sunday rejected foreign threats to the country. It did not specifically identify Trump or the United States, but criticized Maduro’s close relationship with Communist-run Cuba.

Vice President Pence said the United States would bring economic and diplomatic power to restore democracy in Venezuela.

“A failed state in Venezuela threatens the security and prosperity of our entire hemisphere and the people of the United States of America,” said Pence, speaking to reporters in the Colombian coastal city of Cartagena.

“The regime is experiencing change right now and what we’re witnessing is Venezuela is collapsing into dictatorship.”

Countries across Latin America, where the United States flexed its military muscles throughout the 20th century, rejected Trump’s comments and said U.S. intervention was unwelcome.

On Sunday night, in an apparent effort to ease alarm, Pence said the United States was confident that a peaceful solution could be found to the country’s political and economic crises.

The country last month, at Maduro’s behest, elected a “constituent assembly” with sweeping powers including the capacity to rewrite the constitution. Maduro says the assembly will bring peace to the country.

His adversaries boycotted the election, calling it a power grab meant to keep the ruling Socialist Party in power and insisting it will do nothing to tame soaring inflation or resolve food and medicine shortages.

(Additional reporting by Tim Ahmann in Washington and Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota, Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Andrew Hay)

U.S. slaps new sanctions on Venezuela, fugitive mayor defiant

Demonstrators block a street at a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela August 8, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Hugh Bronstein and Matt Spetalnick

CARACAS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington imposed sanctions on eight Venezuelan officials on Wednesday for their role in creating an all-powerful legislative body loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, while a mayor-turned-fugitive called for more anti-government protests.

The new U.S. sanctions targeted politicians and security figures but stopped short of actions against Venezuela’s vital oil industry. Energy sector sanctions, which could cripple Venezuela’s already ailing economy, are still being considered, U.S. officials said.

The sanctions followed Friday’s installation of a legislative superbody known as the constituent assembly, made up entirely of allies of the ruling Socialist Party and armed with the power to re-write the constitution.

The assembly’s first action was to fire Venezuela’s chief prosecutor, who had accused Maduro of human rights abuses, confirming opposition fears that the assembly would purge the government of dissenting voices.

Maduro’s loyalist Supreme Court has, meanwhile, stepped up the prosecution of opposition politicians including Ramon Muchacho, mayor of the wealthy Chacao district of capital city Caracas.

Muchacho appeared in a video shot from a secret location after the court removed him from office and sentenced him to 15 months in prison on Tuesday for failing to halt anti-government protests in his district.

“To all Venezuelans, the message is to continue in this struggle,” said a bearded Muchacho, clad in a white T-shirt emblazoned with the Venezuelan flag and appearing before a plain white backdrop. The video was circulated on social media.

Chacao has been the epicenter of demonstrations against Maduro and Muchacho’s video could help breathe new life into the protest movement. The massive street protests seen before the election of the assembly have lost steam while anti-Maduro activists try to draw up a strategy for the future.

The Supreme Court said on Wednesday via Facebook that it had sentenced David Smolansky of the El Hatillo district of Caracas to 15 months in prison, fired him from his post and ordered his arrest. Smolansky, the fifth mayor to face such sanctions this year, was also accused of defying an order to prevent opposition protests from blocking streets.

FROZEN ASSETS

The sanctions unveiled Wednesday will freeze U.S. assets of the officials targeted, ban them from travel to the United States and prohibit Americans from doing business with them. Among those named was constituent assembly member Adan Chavez, brother of the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

“We absolutely reject this act of aggression by the North American empire, by the government of Washington, and we do not recognize any sanction against the people of Venezuela,” said Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza in a televised broadcast.”

“Venezuela cannot be sanctioned by anything or anyone.”

Washington clamped sanctions on Maduro himself last week following actions against 13 Venezuelan figures last month.

Experts say individual sanctions have had little or no impact on Maduro’s policies and that broader oil-sector and financial sanctions may be the only way to make the Venezuelan government feel economic pain.

More than 125 people have died in violence since the opposition began a sustained wave of protests in April. Met by rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas fired by the National Guard, the protesters say the crisis demands an early presidential election that they are sure Maduro would lose.

His popularity has been pounded lower by triple-digit inflation and acute food and medicine shortages which Maduro blames right-wing conspirators in league with the U.S. “empire”.

The opposition, which gained control of Venezuela’s congress in 2015 only to see its decisions nullified by the Supreme Court, boycotted the July 30 election of the legislative superbody known as the constituent assembly.

Maduro says the 545-member assembly will bring peace and prosperity to Venezuela. Laws passed by the new body will not need approval from Venezuela’s traditional congress, which met on Wednesday to discuss the region’s response to the new body.

In a joint declaration released on Tuesday, countries including Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Chile and Colombia condemned the “breakdown of democratic order” in Venezuela and said they would not recognize any action taken by its “illegitimate” new constituent assembly.

(Additional reporting by Corina Pons, Eyanir Chinea, Diego Ore, Deisy Buitrago, and Girish Gupta; Editing by W Simon and Tom Brown)

Venezuela inflation quickens to 248.6 percent in year to July: opposition

Venezuela inflation quickens to 248.6 percent in year to July: opposition

CARACAS (Reuters) – Inflation in Venezuela’s crisis-hit economy quickened to 248.6 percent in the first seven months of the year, the opposition-led congress said on Wednesday in the absence of official data.

Economic hardship in Venezuela, where there are severe food shortages, is fueling unrest that has led to over 120 deaths in the last four months.

Various factors underlay the seven-month price rise, including a lack of U.S. dollars in the country, a sharp weakening of the bolivar currency, and political uncertainty, opposition lawmaker Angel Alvarado said.

He noted that monthly inflation was quickening, with the rise reaching 26 percent in July versus 21.4 percent in June.

President Nicolas Maduro’s government has not published official data for more than a year.

Government opponents say Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, have wrecked a once-prosperous economy with 18 years of state-led socialist policies ranging from nationalizations to currency controls.

The government says it is victim of an “economic war” led by opposition-linked businessmen.

(Reporting by Corina Pons; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer)

Venezuela stands by election count despite fraud allegation

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (2nd R) speaks during a meeting with members of the Constituent Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela August 2, 2017. The text in the back reads, "Heroic Venezuela". Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

By Hugh Bronstein and Cassandra Garrison

CARACAS/LONDON (Reuters) – Venezuela’s president rejected accusations on Wednesday that his government inflated turnout figures from its constituent assembly election, branding them part of an effort to stain what he called a clean and transparent vote.

The company that provides the country’s voting machines said that the government’s claim that 8.1 million votes were cast in Sunday’s poll overestimated the tally by least 1 million.

President Nicolas Maduro also criticized the accuracy of a story reported by Reuters that only 3.7 million people had voted by 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to internal electoral council documents, compared with the total 8.1 million ballots counted by authorities.

The documents, which break the data down into Venezuela’s 14,515 polling centers, show that 3,720,465 people had voted by 5.30 p.m. Voting ended at 7 p.m. and election experts said doubling the vote in the last hour and a half would be unlikely.

“We stand by our story,” Reuters global communications chief Abbe Serphos said in an email.

Maduro was defiant.

“This election cannot be stained by anyone, because it was a transparent vote, audited before, during and after the ballots were cast,” he told a televised gathering of supporters.

Electronic voting technology firm Smartmatic, which created the voting system that Venezuela has used since 2004, said the turnout figures had been tampered with.

“We know, without any doubt, that the turnout of the recent election for a National Constituent Assembly was manipulated,” said Smartmatic Chief Executive Antonio Mugica in a press briefing in London, without providing details of the company’s methodology.

“We estimate the difference between the actual participation and the one announced by authorities is at least 1 million votes,” he said.

The opposition, which boycotted the vote, has dismissed the official tally as fraudulent. A high turnout was seen as crucial for leftist Maduro to legitimize the election in the face of wide international criticism.

The assembly will have the power to dissolve the opposition-run congress and is expected to sack the country’s chief prosecutor, who has harshly criticized Maduro this year.

Maduro on Wednesday said the newly-minted superbody will also have the power to strip members of congress of their immunity from prosecution. On Tuesday security forces jailed two of Maduro’s leading critics in a fresh blow to the opposition.

Countries around the world have condemned the assembly as a bid to indefinitely extend Maduro’s rule. He is widely criticized for an economic crisis marked by triple-digit inflation and chronic shortages of food and medicine.

OIL WORKERS MARCH

Maduro says the assembly is necessary to give him the powers needed to bring peace to the country after more than four months of opposition protests punctuated by violent clashes between security forces and hooded demonstrators. More than 120 people have been killed since the unrest began in April.

Maduro said delegates of the 545-member assembly will have their first official session on Friday. The opposition called for a new round of protests on Thursday.

Congress has promised to continue holding sessions despite the election of the new assembly. Last month it also named alternate justices to the Supreme Court in defiance of the top court, which has heavily favored Maduro.

Authorities arrested three of those justices, and four others have taken refuge in the residence of the Chilean ambassador in Caracas.

The United States this week called Maduro a dictator, froze his U.S. assets, and barred Americans from doing business with him. Maduro, like his predecessor and mentor, the late Hugo Chavez, regularly laughs off criticism from Washington even though the United States is Venezuela’s top crude importer.

The European Union said it was mulling a “whole range of actions” on Venezuela. But Maduro continues to enjoy public backing from the Venezuela’s military, though soldiers are increasingly weary of the popular backlash against their role in quelling protests.

Oil workers, whom Maduro considers a bedrock of support, rallied in several energy producing regions of the country on Wednesday.

Chanting and carrying the red Socialist Party flag, they denounced sanctions on the leftist president.

“We are here to show our rejection of the intervention of the United States,” one demonstrator said during a televised rally, calling the sanctions “a political show with harmful economic consequences for the people of Venezuela.”

(Writing by Brian Ellsworth, additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago, Corina Pons and Girish Gupta in Caracas.; Editing by W Simon, Tom Brown and Michael Perry)

Venezuela security agents seize opposition leaders from homes: family

Venezuela security agents seize opposition leaders from homes: family

By Corina Pons

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan security officials seized two opposition leaders from their homes in overnight raids, their families said on Tuesday, after they urged protests against a new legislative superbody widely denounced as anti-democratic.

Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma were both under house arrest, the former for his role in leading street protests against President Nicolas Maduro in 2014 and the latter on charges of plotting a coup.

“12:27 in the morning: the moment when the dictatorship kidnaps Leopoldo at my house,” Lopez’s wife Lilian Tintori wrote on Twitter.

She posted a link to a video that appeared to show Lopez being led into a vehicle emblazoned with the word Sebin, Venezuela’s intelligence agency.

The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Lopez and Ledezma are both former mayors in Caracas, and high-profile critics of Maduro.

They had called on Venezuelans to join protests over Sunday’s election of the constituent assembly, which supersedes an opposition-controlled congress that a pro-Maduro Supreme Court had already stripped of its powers.

At least 10 people were killed in unrest during the vote, which was boycotted by the opposition and criticized around the world as an assault on democratic freedoms.

“They have kidnapped @leopoldolopez because he simply would not break under the pressures and false promises of the regime,” wrote Freddy Guevara, a legislator from Lopez’s Popular Will party.

Vanessa Ledezma said she held Maduro responsible for what happened to her father.

“The Sebin just took him,” she wrote on Twitter, posting a video of intelligence agents taking Ledezma, who was dressed in pyjamas.

He was granted house arrest in 2015 after being imprisoned on charges of leading a coup against Maduro.

Lopez was granted house arrest in July following three years in prison for his role in anti-government street protests in 2014. His release was considered a major breakthrough in the country’s political standoff.

Lopez’s lawyer, Juan Gutierrez, wrote on Twitter that “there is no legal justification to revoke the house arrest measure.”

(Writing by Brian Ellsworth; editing by John Stonestreet)

Phone calls, dismissal threats: Venezuela pressures state workers to vote

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro waves during a pro-government rally with workers of state-run oil company PDVSA, in Barcelona, Venezuela July 8, 2017. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

By Alexandra Ulmer

CARACAS (Reuters) – State workers in Venezuela are receiving frequent phone calls, pressure from bosses and threats of dismissal to ensure they vote in favor of President Nicolas Maduro’s controversial new congress on Sunday.

The unpopular leftist Maduro is pushing ahead with the election to create a powerful new legislature despite four months of deadly anti-government protests in the oil-rich South American nation, which is reeling from food shortages, runaway inflation and violent crime.

Maduro says the 545-seat Constituent Assembly, which will have the power to dissolve all other state institutions, will overcome the “armed insurrection” to bring peace to Venezuela. His opponents say it is a puppet institution designed to cement a dictatorship.

With surveys showing that almost 70 percent of Venezuelans oppose the assembly, the government wants to avoid embarrassingly low turnout in a ballot being boycotted by the opposition.

Pressure on state employees is higher than ever, according to interviews with two dozen workers at institutions ranging from state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) to the Caracas subway, as well as text messages, internal statements, and videos seen by Reuters.

“Any manager, superintendent, and supervisor who tries to block the Constituent Assembly, who does not vote, or whose staff does not vote, must leave his job on Monday,” a PDVSA vice-president, Nelson Ferrer, said during a meeting with workers this week, according to a summary circulated within the company and seen by Reuters.

In a video of a political rally at PDVSA, an unidentified company representative wearing the red shirt often worn by members of Maduro’s Socialist Party shouted into a microphone that employees who do not vote will be fired.

“We’re not joking around here,” he says.

Workers recount a laundry list of pressures: text messages every 30 minutes, phone calls, mandatory political rallies during work, requests that each worker enlist 10 others to vote, or orders to report back to a “situation room” after voting.

While it remains difficult to estimate how many of Venezuela’s 2.8 million state workers will vote, most interviewees said a significant majority probably will, either out of allegiance or out of fear.

Some Venezuelans also said Socialist Party operatives had threatened to stop distributing subsidized food bags to those who did not vote.

“I’ve seen a stream of people crying because they don’t know what to do. There’s so much fear,” said one PDVSA employee, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid reprisals.

Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. PDVSA did not respond to a request for comment about Ferrer’s alleged remarks or wider pressures.

TO VOTE OR NOT TO VOTE?

After a brief coup against him and an oil strike over a decade ago, Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chavez increasingly staffed state institutions with his supporters.

Cheering government employees became fixtures at marches to defend the leftist firebrand’s “21st century Socialism”. PDVSA’s headquarters are still decorated with portraits of Chavez, who died of cancer in 2013.

Critics say unqualified political appointees have sunk the OPEC nation’s oil industry and spurred a brain drain.

Under Chavez’s less charismatic successor Maduro, the bolivar currency has plummeted and dragged down salaries to a few dozen U.S. dollars a month, fomenting discontent among the rank-and-file.

But, with the country of 30 million people submerged in a fourth straight year of recession, many employees stick to their posts because of health insurance, subsidized food or lack of other jobs.

Some employees said they would vote on Sunday to avoid the fate of those fired after a government lawmaker published a list of Venezuelans who signed a petition demanding a recall referendum against Chavez.

“My mother is ill, my wife is pregnant, and if I lose my job I’ll be even worse off than I am now. I need to go vote,” said a worker at Venezuelan steelmaker Sidor.

Other workers have decided to ignore phone calls and lay low on Sunday. Some are gambling that their bosses will be lenient, while others say they have compromising information about corruption or misdeeds that could protect them from dismissals.

A handful say they are willing to risk their jobs to oppose Maduro.

“We’re tired of working and working and still not being able to save. We can’t change cars or fix up our little house, let alone take a vacation,” said the director of a public school, once comfortably in the middle class.

“We’re ready to assume the consequences of not voting.”

(Additional reporting by Mircely Guanipa in Punto Fijo, Maria Ramirez in Puerto Ordaz, Anggy Polanco in San Crsitobal, and Deisy Buitrago and Andrew Cawthorne in Caracas; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by James Dalgleish)

U.S. orders Venezuela embassy families out, crisis deepens

Demonstrators run away at a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Alexandra Ulmer and Fabian Cambero

CARACAS (Reuters) – The U.S. government ordered family members of employees at its embassy in Venezuela to leave on Thursday as a political crisis deepened ahead of a controversial vote critics contend will end democracy in the oil-rich country.

Violence continued to rage on the street, with another seven people killed during the latest opposition-led strike against President Nicolas Maduro’s planned election for a powerful new Constituent Assembly on Sunday.

Adding to Venezuela’s growing international isolation, Colombian airline Avianca suddenly stopped operations in the country on Thursday due to “operational and security limitations”.

Maduro’s critics were planning to pile more pressure on the unpopular leftist leader by holding roadblocks across the nation dubbed “The Takeover of Venezuela” on Friday.

“We’re going to keep fighting, we’re not leaving the streets,” said opposition lawmaker Jorge Millan.

The government banned protests from Friday to Tuesday, raising the likelihood of more violence in volatile Venezuela. Many people have been stocking up food and staying home.

As well as ordering relatives to leave, the U.S. State Department on Thursday also authorized the voluntary departure of any U.S. government employee at its compound-like hilltop embassy in Caracas.

President Donald Trump has warned his administration could impose economic sanctions on Venezuela if Maduro goes ahead with the vote to create the legislative superbody.

The Constituent Assembly would have power to rewrite the constitution and shut down the existing opposition-led legislature, which the opposition maintains would cement dictatorship in Venezuela.

Over 100 people have died in anti-government unrest convulsing Venezuela since April, when the opposition launched protests demanding conventional elections to end nearly two decades of socialist rule.

(For graphics on Venezuela’s economic crisis and anti-government protests see: http://tmsnrt.rs/2pPJdRb and http://tmsnrt.rs/2ujuylf)

ANTI-MADURO STRIKE

Many streets remained barricaded and deserted on Thursday during the second day of a nationwide work stoppage.

Plenty of rural areas and working-class urban neighborhoods were bustling, however, and the strike appeared less massively supported than a one-day shutdown last week.

With Venezuela already brimming with shuttered stores and factories, amid a blistering four-year recession, the effectiveness of any strike can be hard to gauge. Many Venezuelans live hand-to-mouth and say they must keep working.

In Barinas, home state of former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, only about a third of businesses were closed according to a Reuters witness, as opposed to the opposition’s formal estimate of 90 percent participation nationally.

“I am opposed to the government and I agree we must do everything we can to get out of this mess, but I depend on my work. If I don’t work, my family does not eat,” said Ramon Alvarez, a 45-year-old barber at his shop in Barinas.

There has been widespread international condemnation of Maduro’s Constituent Assembly plan. The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions against 13 current and former officials for corruption, undermining democracy, and participating in repression.

Government officials and candidates for the Constituent Assembly wrapped up campaigning on Thursday with a rally in Caracas with Maduro.

The former bus driver and union leader reiterated that the assembly was the only way to bring peace to Venezuela, blasted threats of further sanctions from “emperor Donald Trump,” and hit back at accusations that he is morphing into a tyrant.

“The usual suspects came out to say Maduro had become crazy,” he told cheering red-shirted supporters in Caracas.

“Of course, I was crazy! Crazy with passion, crazy with a desire for peace.”

Amid rumors of 11th-hour attempts to foster negotiations, Maduro reiterated an invitation to dialogue with the opposition, although such talks have flopped in the past.

DEATHS, ARRESTS

The state prosecutor’s office said four people died on Thursday amid the unrest: A 49-year-old man in Carabobo state, a 23 year-old in Lara state, a 29 year-old in Anzoategui state and a 16-year old in the middle class Caracas area of El Paraiso.

A 23-year-old man and a 30-year-old man were also killed in western Merida state and a 16-year-old boy was killed in the poor Caracas neighborhood of Petare during clashes on Wednesday.

This week’s death toll topped last week’s one-day strike, when five people were killed.

Over 190 people were arrested during the stoppage on Wednesday and nearly 50 on Thursday, said local rights group Penal Forum. Since April, authorities have rounded up nearly 4,800 people, of whom 1,325 remain behind bars, the group said.

Wuilly Arteaga, a violinist who has become one of the best-known faces of the protests, was among those detained by the National Guard, Penal Forum added.

(Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago, Brian Ellsworth, Alexandra Ulmer, Anggy Polanco, Andrew Cawthorne, Diego Ore, Corina Pons, and Girish Gupta in Caracas, Mircely Guanipa in Punto Fijo, Francisco Aguilar in Barinas, Maria Ramirez in Bolivar, Eric Beech in Washington D.C., and Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Toni Reinhold, Andrew Cawthorne and Michael Perry)

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)