Tag Archives: Food Shortage

Venezuela opposition plans nationwide protests to strain security forces

Demonstrators rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro carrying a sign that reads "No more dictatorship" in Caracas, Venezuela, April 13, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Alexandra Ulmer

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition was planning protests in each of the country’s 335 municipalities on Thursday, in a bid to strain the capabilities of security forces as unrest mounted in the volatile nation.

The oil-rich but crisis-shaken South American country has been convulsed by escalating protests over the last two weeks amid a punishing economic recession and accusations that leftist President Nicolas Maduro has morphed into a dictator.

In a worrying sign for Maduro, people in usually pro-government slums and low-income areas have blocked streets and lit fires during scattered protests this week. A crowd also broke through a security cordon at his rally on Tuesday, heckling at him and throwing stones while bodyguards scrambled.

Four people were killed during protests over the last week, authorities say. Opposition lawmaker Alfonso Marquina said on Thursday a fifth protester had died.

With momentum on their side, the main opposition coalition was urging Venezuelans to take to the streets across the country on Thursday in an effort to leave security forces too thinly spread to break up rallies.

They accuse police and the National Guard of indiscriminate use of tear gas, including gassing clinics and dropping canisters from a helicopter, and of arbitrarily detaining people for simply being within the vicinity of protests.

“This is a struggle of resistance, whose fundamental objective is to wear them out, and see who breaks first,” said opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara in a video posted on Twitter.

“Will it be our desire to fight or theirs to repress? Will it be our desire to have a better Venezuela or theirs to obey the dictatorship?”

The opposition says Maduro made it clear to the world he was a dictator when the Supreme Court in late March assumed the functions of the opposition-led congress.

Amid global outcry, the court quickly rolled back the most controversial part of its decision, but the move breathed new life into the fractured opposition movement and comforted demonstrators that they had international support.

Last week’s move to ban opposition leader Henrique Capriles from holding office for 15 years also fueled demonstrators’ outrage. Capriles is seen as the opposition’s best presidential hope.

UNREST

Alongside planned opposition marches that have dissolved into clashes, there have also been what witnesses and local media describe as impromptu nighttime protests, where neighbors block streets with trash or burning debris.

Looting has been reported too, especially in the working class community of Guarenas outside Caracas.

While opposition leaders have called for protests to remain peaceful, Maduro’s government has claimed that a business-backed opposition is actually pushing for violence to justify “foreign intervention.”

Maduro has drawn parallels with a brief coup against his predecessor – the late Hugo Chavez – in 2002, and warned that an opposition government would slash social benefits like health care for the poor and subsidized food.

The opposition has responded that any social advances made under Chavez have been wiped out by a devastating economic crisis that has brought widespread shortages of food and medicine.

Some in the opposition accuse “colectivos,” militant grassroots groups whom critics say are thugs paid by the government, of looting and violence to taint the opposition.

Many Venezuelans still worry protracted protests will not bring about political or economic change, but will just increase violence in the already volatile nation.

Major anti-government protests in 2014 eventually fizzled out, though the opposition at the time had nebulous demands, poor neighborhoods largely abstained, and the economy was in better shape.

Venezuelans are gearing up for next Wednesday, when opposition leaders have called for the “mother of all marches.”

(Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Venezuela protests spread to poor areas, two more deaths amid unrest

Riot police fire tear gas during a rally against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela April 10, 2017. REUTERS/Christian Veron

By Alexandra Ulmer and Corina Pons

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelans in poor areas blocked streets and lit fires during scattered protests across the country on Tuesday night, and two people were killed during the growing unrest in the midst of a crippling economic crisis.

In a worrying sign for leftist President Nicolas Maduro, groups in Caracas’ traditionally pro-government hillside slums and low-income neighborhoods took to the streets, witnesses and opposition lawmakers reported.

Maduro foes were galvanized by footage of a crowd in the south-eastern Bolivar state heckling and throwing objects at the closely-protected leader during a rally on Tuesday, before state television cut off the broadcast.

In the western Lara state, two people, aged 13 and 36, were killed during unrest on Tuesday, the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Lara’s opposition governor Henri Falcon blamed violence on “infiltrators” and “delinquents” who roamed on motorcycles after an energy blackout.

“They go by neighborhoods and shoot people who are protesting,” said Falcon, a former member of the ruling party, urging a negotiation to end Venezuela’s political crisis.

The opposition says Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader who took office four years ago, has morphed into a dictator after a Supreme Court decision in late March to assume the functions of the opposition-led congress.

The court quickly overturned the most controversial part of its decision, but the move breathed new life into the fractured opposition movement.

Two young men had already been killed in protests during the last week, according to authorities. Many are bracing for further violence in a country that is racked by crime and has one of the world’s highest murder rates.

Witnesses said residents of a number of working-class Caracas neighborhoods blocked streets with trash or burning debris on Tuesday night, describing confused street melees and clashes with security forces. The capital appeared calm on Wednesday, although some roads were charred and littered with broken glass.

Government officials did not provide an official account of the events, and the Information Ministry did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Maduro has said that under a veneer of pacifism, a U.S.-backed right-wing opposition is encouraging violent protests in a bid to topple his government and get its hands on Venezuela’s oil wealth.

On Wednesday night, he said the heckling incident a day earlier in the city of San Felix was an opposition attempt to “ambush” him that was thwarted by his loyalists.

“They had prepared an ambush and the people neutralized it,” he said. “I want to thank the people of San Felix for their expressions of fervor, passion, love and support.”

“MADURO DICTATOR”

Maduro’s adversaries are demanding the government call delayed state elections, which polls suggest would not go well for the ruling Socialists. They also want an early presidential vote after authorities quashed a recall referendum against Maduro last year.

A ban on opposition leader Henrique Capriles from holding office for 15 years drew broad criticism as he was seen as the opposition’s best presidential hope.

But it is Venezuela’s extended economic crisis that has ordinary people fuming.

Venezuelans have been suffering food and medicine shortages for months, leading many to skip meals or go without crucial treatment. Lines of hundreds form in front of supermarkets as people jostle for hours under the hot sun hoping price-controlled rice or flour will be delivered.

The crisis has especially hurt the poor, long the base of support of Maduro and his predecessor the late Hugo Chavez.

Protesters say they have also been encouraged by stronger condemnation from American and European nations in the last two weeks.

“We cannot accept that the regime is willing to sacrifice Venezuelan lives to remain in power,” said Luis Almagro, the head of the Organization of American States, in a video posted on Wednesday, urging elections.

Another round of protests are planned for Thursday in Venezuela’s more than 300 municipalities. Opposition leaders are calling for the “mother of all marches” on April 19.

ARRESTS, LOOTING

Amid what the opposition coalition says is a crackdown on dissent, some 71 people were arrested on Tuesday, according to rights group Penal Forum.

In total, 364 people were arrested between April 4-12 during the most sustained protests since 2014, with 183 people still behind bars, the group added.

A group of young men and teenagers were arrested for throwing “sharp objects” against Maduro’s vehicle on Tuesday night, according to a report by a local National Guard division seen by Reuters. Two sources told Reuters the protesters were hurling stones.

Local media reported lootings overnight in the working class bedroom community of Guarenas outside Caracas, as well as in parts of the capital.

State officials have tweeted images and videos of demonstrators vandalizing public property and throwing rocks at police.

Despite the spiking tensions, many in the opposition worry extended protests will not spur early or fair elections, but rather increase clashes in the already turbulent country.

Major anti-government protests in 2014 eventually floundered, though the opposition at the time did not have as clear-cut demands, poor neighborhoods largely abstained, and the economy was in better shape.

(Additional reporting by Eyanir Chinea, Brian Ellsworth, Diego Ore, Miguel Angel Sulbaran, Liamar Ramos, Maria Ramirez, Deisy Buitrago and Mircely Guanipa; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Andrew Hay and Michael Perry)

Venezuela’s Maduro jeered by crowd as unrest grows

Demonstrators clash with riot police while ralling against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas,

By Maria Ramirez and Alexandra Ulmer

SAN FELIX, Venezuela/CARACAS (Reuters) – Angry Venezuelans threw objects at President Nicolas Maduro during a rally on Tuesday, as protests mount against the unpopular leftist leader amid a brutal economic crisis and what critics say is his lurch into dictatorship.

State television footage showed a crowd mobbing the vehicle that Maduro was standing on as he waved goodbye at the end of a military event in San Felix, in the south-eastern state of Bolivar. Amid the commotion, people threw objects at Maduro, who was wearing a traditional Venezuelan suit and a yellow-blue-red presidential sash, while his bodyguards scrambled.

The state broadcaster then halted transmission.

In a separate video shared on social media, voices yelling “Damn you!” were heard as the vehicle apparently transporting Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, tried to make its way through the crowd.

Five males, aged 15, 17, 18, 19 and 20, were arrested for throwing “sharp objects” against Maduro’s vehicle, according to a report by a local National Guard division seen by Reuters on Tuesday night.

Further details were not immediately available. The Information Ministry did not respond to a request for information, although Socialist Party officials tweeted that Maduro had been received by a cheering crowd in San Felix.

However, the opposition, which has been protesting in the last two weeks to demand early elections, pounced on the incident as evidence that Maduro is deeply despised amid food shortages and spiraling inflation.

“The DICTATOR only needs to leave Miraflores (presidential palace) to see how the people repudiate him!” opposition lawmaker Francisco Sucre, from the state of Bolivar, said on Twitter amid a flurry of commentary on social media.

“They cannot give a standing ovation to the man responsible for the worst humanitarian crisis in our history!” Sucre added.

The incident drew immediate parallels with last year, when authorities briefly rounded up more than 30 people on Margarita island for heckling Maduro, a rare sight given that the president’s appearances typically are carefully choreographed and show only cheering supporters wearing red shirts.

Videos published by activists at the time showed scores of people banging pots and pans and jeering Maduro during a visit to inspect state housing projects. Authorities later accused opponents of “manipulating” videos.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (2nd L) in San Felix, Venezuela

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro (2nd L) in San Felix, Venezuela April 11, 2017. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

TWO DEATHS

Venezuela’s opposition on Tuesday pilloried what it says is repression during anti-Maduro protests after authorities confirmed a second death in unrest in the last week.

The state prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Tuesday that a 20-year old man had been fatally shot in the neck on Monday night at a protest in the city of Valencia. Opposition lawmakers said the man, Daniel Queliz, was killed by security forces while he was protesting.

His death comes on the heels of the killing of 19-year-old Jairo Ortiz on the outskirts of Caracas on Thursday in the area of an opposition protest. A police officer has been arrested.

After years of protesting with little results, street action had ebbed until a Supreme Court decision in late March to assume the functions of the opposition-led congress sparked outcry, with condemnation at home and abroad.

The court quickly overturned the most controversial part of its decision. News that the national comptroller on Friday had banned high-profile opposition leader Henrique Capriles from office for 15 years drew broad criticism, too.

Venezuelans have been suffering food and medicine shortages for months, leading many to skip meals or go without crucial treatment.

Opposition leaders announced another round of protests in Venezuela’s more than 300 municipalities for Thursday, saying scattered demonstrations would stretch security forces thin.

Maduro says that under a veneer of pacifism, the opposition is actually encouraging violent protests in a bid to topple his government.

State officials via social media have shown images and videos of demonstrators vandalizing public property and throwing rocks at police.

“Who is taking responsibility for damage to public property and persons?” Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said on Twitter, posting pictures of demonstrators kicking police officers and breaking into an office of the Supreme Court. “What is their agenda? Terrorism, chaos, death?”

Most of the protesters are peaceful and say street action is their only option after authorities last year blocked a recall referendum to remove Maduro. Local elections, due last year, have yet to be called.

Still, many Venezuelans are pessimistic that street protests will yield any change, while others abstain out of fear of violence or because they are too busy searching for food.

(Additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth and Diego Ore; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Leslie Adler)

Babies starve as war grinds on in Mosul

Patients Iraqi children lie at a hospital run by Medecins Sans Frontieres in Qayyara, Iraq April 6, 2017. Picture taken April 6, 2016. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

By Isabel Coles

QAYYARA, Iraq (Reuters) – The babies cry with hunger but are so severely malnourished that doctors treating them at a hospital in Iraq would make their condition worse if they fed them enough to stop the pangs.

Many of the starving infants are from Mosul, where war between Islamic State militants and Iraqi forces is taking a heavy toll on several hundred thousand civilians trapped inside the city.

A new, specialist ward was opened recently to deal with the growing number of children from Mosul showing signs of malnutrition as the conflict grinds on -– most of them less than six-months-old.

That means they were born around the time Iraqi forces severed Islamic State’s last major supply route from Mosul to Syria, besieging the militants inside the city, but also creating acute shortages of food.

“Normally nutritional crises are much more common in Africa and not in this kind of country,” said pediatrician Rosanna Meneghetti at the hospital, which is run by aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Qayyara, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Mosul. “We did not anticipate this”.

So far, the number of cases recorded is below the level considered critical but it nonetheless highlights the hardship faced by civilians who are effectively being held hostage by Islamic State.

Iraqi forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition have retaken most of the city but are struggling to dislodge the militants from several districts in the west, including the Old City.

Residents who have managed to escape say there is almost nothing to eat but flour mixed with water and boiled wheat grain.

What little food remains is too expensive for most residents to afford, or kept for Islamic State members and their supporters.

FORMULA MILK SHORTAGE

In the ward, a team of doctors monitors the babies’ progress in grams, feeding them a special peanut-based paste that will gradually accustom them to eating and increase their weight.

On one bed lies a six-month-old boy weighing 2.4 kg – less than half the median weight for an infant of that age.

The diminutive patients are also treated for other diseases associated with malnutrition, which weakens the immune system, making them even more vulnerable.

“It’s a new thing in Iraq,” said MSF project coordinator Isabelle Legall. “Most of the (Iraqi) doctors have never seen it (malnutrition)”.

Part of the problem, Legall said, is a lack of tradition of breast-feeding among Iraqi mothers, who usually raise their babies on formula milk, which is now almost impossible to come by in Mosul.

Even if they want to breastfeed, many mothers find it difficult due to the physical and emotional strain of living in a warzone: “The mother is very stressed and can’t find much food herself so cannot produce so much milk,” Meneghetti said.

One of the mothers from Mosul told the doctors she had no option but to feed her baby sugar dissolved in water, yogurt, or a mixture of flour and water.

“All of this is because of Daesh (Islamic State),” said another mother, keeping vigil over her emaciated baby.

Some of the babies come from villages that were retaken from Islamic State months ago, pointing to a wider trend of food insecurity.

TWO PATIENTS TO A BED

On average, more than half the patients seen in the emergency room of the MSF hospital are under the age of 15, partly because there is a shortage of pediatricians in the area, so many children are referred there.

Signs on the doors of the portacabins that house different wards prohibit visitors from entering with weapons.

The pediatric ward is so full there are two patients to each bed, and most of the women’s wing is taken up by children recovering from war injuries such as broken limbs, burns and shrapnel.

Many babies are brought to the hospital with respiratory problems such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia -– most of them from camps for the displaced, where cramped conditions enable viruses to spread.

Two children buried under blankets are suffering from birth asphyxia which occurs when a baby’s brain and other organs do not get enough oxygen before, during or immediately after being born.

Meneghetti said their mothers had probably needed a surgical birth but were unable to reach a hospital so delivered at home and experienced complications.

Lying listless on another bed is a boy who was wounded by shrapnel when his father picked up a box of explosives, intending to move the danger away. It blew up in his hands, wounding them both along with several other family members.

The expression on eight-year-old Dua Nawaf’s face is haunting.

The girl suffered burns to the head and hands in an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition that killed more than 100 people in the Mosul Jadida district last month, including both her parents.

“The family told me this morning that she (Dua) had some problems, especially in the night, so we are organising a mental health (assessment) for her,” Meneghetti said, reaching into her pocket for a balloon, which she inflated and gave to the girl.

Only the faintest hint of a smile appeared on Dua’s face.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Venezuelan opposition protests again amid sustained anti-Maduro demonstrations

Demonstrators build a fire barricade on a street in Caracas, Venezuela

By Eyanir Chinea and Alexandra Ulmer

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition supporters took to the streets again on Monday to protest a grinding economic crisis and an erosion of democracy under leftist President Nicolas Maduro, in the first sustained wave of anti-government demonstrations in three years.

Venezuelans have been irate for months over shortages of basic goods and roaring inflation that have led to millions skipping meals or surviving on starches.

But demonstrations had ebbed amid protester fatigue, until a Supreme Court decision in late March to assume the functions of the opposition-led congress sparked outcry.

The court quickly overturned the most controversial part of its decision but the move triggered condemnation at home and abroad, as did Friday’s news that the national comptroller had banned politician Henrique Capriles – seen as the opposition’s best hope in a presidential election scheduled for next year – from office for 15 years.

Four nationwide protests in the last 10 days degenerated into clashes between youths throwing stones and security forces spraying crowds with tear gas. On Monday, there were protests in several cities. A few thousand people marched in Caracas but authorities blocked the highway and fired tear gas.

“It’s working, the government is scared and making mistakes like banning Capriles, because that generates more support for him,” said homemaker Imelda Guerrero, 66, who said her three children have emigrated due to the crisis.

“But this is will be a long struggle, it’s only just starting,” she added in Caracas.

The opposition is demanding a date for gubernatorial elections, meant to be held last year, and is seeking early presidential elections.

Despite the surge in protests, many Venezuelans are pessimistic that marches can bring about change, scared of violent clashes, or simply too busy trying to find food.

ARRESTS, FOREIGN PRESSURE

Maduro’s unpopular government accuses the opposition of fomenting violence to lay the ground for a foreign invasion.

Some 188 protesters, most of them students, were arrested in the period April 4-8 and 57 are still behind bars, rights group Penal Forum said on Monday.

Nine people, including two teenagers, were arrested for breaking into an office of the Supreme Court and vandalizing it at the end of Saturday’s march. And a 19-year-old was shot dead in violence around protests on Thursday.

The government has come under increased pressure from American and European countries that have condemned violence in Venezuela and the ban on Capriles.

Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader who accuses foreign countries of “meddling,” traveled to communist ally Cuba on Sunday for a meeting of the leftist ALBA bloc.

“The lazy one has gone to Cuba on holiday, he would do the country a favor by staying there,” Capriles jabbed at him on Twitter.

(Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Venezuela’s opposition censures judges; 18 held after protests

Demonstrators scuffle with security forces during an opposition rally in Caracas, Venezuela. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Andrew Cawthorne and Corina Pons

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition lawmakers, some carrying injuries from this week’s protests, on Wednesday sought the dismissal of Supreme Court judges whom they accuse of propping up a socialist dictatorship.

Newly militant opposition leaders also announced another round of demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro for Thursday, despite chaos and violence in Caracas on Tuesday that left 20 injured and 18 arrested.

The opposition, which won control of the National Assembly in late 2015, accuses Maduro of wrecking the South American nation’s economy and squashing democracy.

Maduro says his foes are seeking a coup with the help of Washington and compliant foreign media.

The opposition’s main demand now is to bring forward the next presidential election scheduled for the end of 2018.

But there is no sign authorities will concede, analysts and diplomats say, unless foreign pressure ramps up considerably or Venezuela’s powerful military sways the equation.

The political drama is playing out against the backdrop of a deep economic crisis, with Venezuelans suffering a fourth year of recession, widespread shortages of basic foods and medicines, the world’s worst inflation, and long lines at supermarkets.

Having been impeded from reaching the National Assembly on Tuesday, lawmakers headed to the building in downtown Caracas from dawn on Wednesday, some still nursing head wounds or bandaged arms from clashes in recent days.

“We are going to keep fighting for change, opposing repression and dictatorship,” lawmaker Juan Requesens, who had a gash on his head, said at 6:30 a.m. while en route to the session.

Often at the forefront of provocative demonstrations, Requesens received more than 50 stitches after being hit by a stone when pro-government supporters confronted protesters at the public ombudsman’s office earlier this week.

ARRESTS AND INJURIES

The Caracas-based Penal Forum rights group said 18 people were still behind bars on Wednesday after detentions around the country, but mostly in Caracas. At least 20 people were injured on Tuesday, its head, Alfredo Romero, told Reuters.

There was particular outcry over a musician caught and slapped by police with riot shields while apparently on his way to practice, according to a video of the incident. State ombudsman Tarek Saab called for a probe into the “brutal aggression.”

The head of the hemispheric Organization of American States and global rights group Amnesty International both condemned Venezuela for excessive repression.

But Interior Minister Nestor Reverol denied that, calling instead for one opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, to be prosecuted for blocking streets, including impeding an ambulance.

“The exemplary behavior, capacity and training of our citizens’ security organs prevented the unpredictable consequences of these terrorist groups,” Reverol added.

The oil-producing nation’s political standoff took a new twist last week when the Supreme Court ruled that it was taking over the legislature’s functions.

That touched off an international outcry, and the tribunal quickly scrubbed the offending clauses.

But dozens of previous rulings overturning National Assembly measures have left it powerless anyway, and opposition leaders say recent events have shown the world Maduro’s autocratic face.

Lawmakers passed one motion on Wednesday denouncing the “rupture” of Venezuela’s constitution and another asking for the removal of Supreme Court judges.

But that would be merely symbolic since congress requires the support of other institutions, which are behind Maduro, to dismiss the judges.

“Stop being ridiculous; you’re carrying out a parliamentary ‘coup,'” said Socialist Party lawmaker Hector Rodriguez, accusing opposition leaders of caring less about Venezuelans’ problems than their own competing presidential ambitions.

(Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Alistair Bell and Lisa Von Ahn)

Venezuela’s Maduro decried as ‘dictator’ after Congress annulled

Deputies of the Venezuelan coalition of opposition parties (MUD), clash with Venezuela's National Guards during a protest outside the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) in Caracas, Venezuela March 30, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Diego Oré and Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) – Opposition leaders branded Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro a “dictator” on Thursday after the Supreme Court took over the functions of Congress and pushed a lengthy political standoff to new heights.

There was swift and widespread international condemnation of the de facto annulment of the National Assembly, where the opposition won a majority in late 2015 amid an unprecedented economic crisis that has seen Maduro’s popularity plummet.

The head of the 34-nation Organization of International States (OAS), Luis Almagro, said the Venezuelan court had dealt the final blows to democracy and accused Maduro’s “regime” of carrying out a “coup.”

Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala and Panama expressed strong concerns while Peru withdrew its envoy after what it termed a rupture of democracy.

The United States described the move as a “serious setback for democracy in Venezuela” while the European Union called for a “clear electoral calendar” going forward.

Venezuela’s top court had already overturned most National Assembly decisions since the opposition win. Then late on Wednesday, it explicitly stated it was assuming Congress’ role in a ruling authorizing Maduro to create oil joint ventures without the previously mandated congressional approval.

“As long as the situation of contempt in the National Assembly continues, this constitutional chamber guarantees congressional functions will be exercised by this chamber or another chosen organ,” the court said in its ruling.

The contempt charge stems from vote-buying accusations against three lawmakers from southern Amazonas state. Even though they no longer sit in Congress, the court said parliamentary leaders had not handled their case legally.

Critics of Maduro say it is an excuse for him to consolidate power and muzzle the opposition amid a severe recession, soaring inflation and acute shortages of food and medicine.

Maduro, a 54-year-old former bus driver and foreign minister, was narrowly elected in 2013 to replace late leftist President Hugo Chavez. He has accused Washington of leading a push to topple him as part of a wider offensive against leftist governments.

Stung by the rebukes around Latin America, Maduro’s government condemned what it described as a “right-wing regional pact” against it on Thursday.

“We reject the Peruvian government’s rude support for the violent and extremist sectors in Venezuela,” Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said in a series of tweets.

Leaders of Venezuela’s Democratic Unity opposition coalition renewed their demand for early presidential elections and accused Maduro of duplicating Peruvian leader Alberto Fujimori’s notorious 1992 closure of Congress.

“Nicolas Maduro has carried out a ‘coup d’etat’ … this is a dictatorship,” said National Assembly President Julio Borges, before tearing up a copy of the Supreme Court ruling at a news conference in the gardens of the legislature.

“This is trash from people who have kidnapped the constitution, rights and freedom of Venezuelans … The National Assembly does not recognize the Supreme Court.”

PROTESTS

The opposition promised new street protests starting from Saturday – but that tactic has failed in the past despite marches that have drawn hundreds of thousands of protesters.

Last year, the opposition pushed for a referendum to recall Maduro and force a new presidential election, but authorities thwarted them and also postponed local electoral races that were supposed to have been held in 2016.

Maduro’s term in office ends in January 2019.

Around a dozen opposition lawmakers trying to march to the Supreme Court on Thursday clashed with National Guard soldiers and pro-government supporters lined up to stop them.

Pockets of youths took to the streets in parts of Caracas and attempted to block a major highway. They held flags and banners saying, “No to dictatorship.”

However, numbers were small and they quickly dispersed.

In 2014, a wave of unrest swept the country, leaving more than 40 dead, though now many opposed to the government say they feel protesting is pointless.

“If the international community stays firm, demanding elections, we are sure the government will have to turn back,” another opposition leader and two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said.

Spooked by the opposition’s warning that investment deals bypassing Congress would not be valid, foreign oil companies were closely following the political showdown.

As Venezuela tries to raise funds for bond payments and a reeling economy, it has sought to sell stakes in oil fields. State oil company PDVSA recently offered Russia’s Rosneft a stake in the Petropiar oil joint venture, sources with knowledge of the proposal told Reuters.

“We want to make perfectly clear to all the oil companies that any strategic alliance (that did not go through Congress) is null,” Borges said on Thursday.

While some investors could see the Supreme Court sentence as giving them the green light to invest, others are increasingly worried about Venezuela’s murky legal framework.

“There is reasonable doubt about the legality of all this,” said a source at a foreign oil company.

(Additional reporting by Corina Pons, Eyanir Chinea, Andreina Aponte, Girish Gupta in Caracas, Mitra Taj in Lima, Rosalba O’Brien in Santiago and Enrique Pretel in San Jose; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne and Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Tom Brown and Andrew Hay)

Four countries face famine threat as global food crisis deepens

Internally displaced Somali children eat boiled rice outside their family's makeshift shelter at the Al-cadaala camp in Somalia's capital Mogadishu March 6, 2017. REUTERS/Feisal Omar

LONDON (Reuters) – Global food crises worsened significantly in 2016 and conditions look set to deteriorate further this year in some areas with an increasing risk of famine, a report said on Friday.

“There is a high risk of famine in some areas of north-eastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen because of armed conflict, drought and macro-economic collapse,” the Food Security Information Network (FSIN) said.

FSIN, which is co-sponsored by the United Nations food agency, the World Food Programme and the International Food Policy Research Institute, said the demand for humanitarian assistance was escalating.

FSIN said that 108 million people were reported to be facing crisis level food insecurity or worse in 2016, a drastic increase from the previous year’s total of almost 80 million.

The network uses a five phase scale with the third level classified as crisis, fourth as emergency and fifth as famine/catastrophe.

“In 2017, widespread food insecurity is likely to persist in Iraq, Syria (including among refugees in neighboring countries), Malawi and Zimbabwe,” the report said.

(Reporting by Nigel Hunt; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

In time of crisis, Venezuelans help the hungry

Mariano Marquez (L), a volunteer of Make The Difference (Haz La Diferencia) charity initiative, gives a cup of soup and an arepa to a homeless woman in a street of Caracas, Venezuela March12, 2017. Picture taken March 12, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Andreina Aponte

CARACAS (Reuters) – Their clothes torn and dirty, nine barefoot children yell and applaud as a convoy of cars approaches on a busy street in Venezuela’s capital.

Volunteers emerge handing out soup and clothes to the delight and excitement of the children who have come from a town a couple of hours outside Caracas.

“We started this because we see people every day hunting for food in the trash, not only the homeless but people on their way to work,” said Diego Prada, a 28-year-old entrepreneur who began a charity in December in response to Venezuela’s dire economic crisis.

His ‘Make The Difference’ initiative is one of a plethora of solidarity projects springing up around Venezuela, in the fourth year of a crushing recession that has forced many to skip meals and jostle for scarce subsidized food.

Concerned individuals, businesses, church groups and high-end restaurants have started projects across the country to serve food, donate clothing and help with supplies for struggling hospitals.

Long accustomed to living in one of Latin America’s wealthiest nations, many Venezuelans have been shocked by seeing more and more people trying to salvage food from the trash.

Diego Prada (L), a volunteer of the Make The Difference (Haz La Diferencia) charity initiative, gives a cup of soup and an arepa to a man in a street of Caracas, Venezuela March12, 2017. Picture taken March 12, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

Diego Prada (L), a volunteer of the Make The Difference (Haz La Diferencia) charity initiative, gives a cup of soup and an arepa to a man in a street of Caracas, Venezuela March12, 2017. Picture taken March 12, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

According to a recent study by three Venezuelan universities, 93 percent of the OPEC nation’s residents do not have enough money to buy sufficient food and 74 percent have lost around 18 pounds (8 kg) in the last year alone.

Critics say 18 years of socialist rule, exacerbated by a fall in oil prices, are to blame for Venezuela’s economic collapse. But President Nicolas Maduro says he is the victim of an “economic war” waged by the country’s elite and the U.S. government.

“If the bourgeoisie hide the food, I myself will bring it to your house. National production should go to the people in order to defeat the imperialist war,” Maduro said at an event this month to promote the distribution of subsidized food.

In Caracas, six upscale restaurants and chefs have formed a charity – “Full Stomach, Happy Heart” – that provides food for a geriatric home and a children’s hospital.

They take turns to cook and serve meals there.

“We serve large portions so that the children can share the food with their parents,” said chef and blogger Elisa Bermudez, adding salt to a broth ready for the hospital.

At a nursing home, 55-year-old Maria Ramirez is grateful for the outside help she receives.

“Sometimes we worry that we’re down to our last bag of spaghetti but thankfully in our most critical moments, we always receive a donation.”

(Additional reporting by Maria Ramirez in Puerto Ordaz and Anggy Polanco in San Cristobal.; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Tom Brown)

Crisis-hit Venezuela halts publication of another major indicator

FILE PHOTO: A man walks past empty shelves at a supermarket in Caracas, Venezuela March 9, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

By Girish Gupta

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela has stopped publishing money supply data, depriving the public of the best available tool to ascertain soaring inflation in one of the world’s worst-performing economies.

The country quit issuing inflation data more than a year ago, but annual consumer price rises are widely seen to be in triple digits, driven by an unraveling socialist system in which many people struggle to obtain meals and medicines.

A money supply indicator known as M2 was up by nearly 180 percent in mid-February from a year earlier, according to the central bank before it halted the release of the weekly data without explanation last month.

In contrast, neighboring Colombia’s M2 was up 7 percent in the same period and the United States’ was up 6 percent.

“If they are not publishing, you know it must be skyrocketing,” said Aurelio Concheso, director of the Caracas-based business consultancy Aspen Consulting.

The central bank and ministry of communications did not respond to a request for comment.

An increase in M2, the sum of cash together with checking, savings and other deposits, means more currency is circulating.

That can accelerate inflation when coupled with a decline in the output of goods and services – such as in Venezuela, which is in the fourth year of a recession.

The money supply indicator suddenly stopped appearing on the central bank’s website on Feb. 24.

The government ceased the dissemination of gross domestic product data more than a year ago. Before that, it put an end to the release of balance of payments figures and its consumer product scarcity index.

For a graphic on Venezuela’s money supply, click http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/VENEZUELA-ECONOMY/010040800HY/index.html

EXPONENTIAL RISE

Venezuela’s money supply, as measured by M2, has risen exponentially since Hugo Chavez, a leftist, came to power in 1999 and is a major factor behind what is thought to be the world’s highest inflation.

While M2 may seem an obscure technical indicator, the figure was routinely published in Venezuelan newspapers.

In the absence of official data — and highlighting Venezuela’s conflict of powers — the opposition-run National Assembly is publishing its own inflation figure, which it said reached 741 percent in the year to February.

Critics accuse the government of suppressing data in order to hide the magnitude of the economic mess and of stoking price rises by reckless money-printing and overspending.

Socialist Nicolas Maduro, elected president after Chavez’s 2013 death, has long blamed Venezuela’s difficulties on an “economic war” being waged on the government by the opposition and U.S. government.

With no money supply figures available, the closest alternative is “excess bank reserves” data. Still published by the central bank, it represents the total funds that banks have available to make commercial loans though is no substitute for M2, say economists.

The last year for which inflation data is available from the central bank is 2015, when consumer prices rose 181 percent.

(Additional reporting by Corina Pons; Editing by Brian Ellsworth and W Simon)