By Andrew Cawthorne
CARACAS (Reuters) – Manning barricades, sitting in deck chairs and sharing food, opposition supporters blocked roads in various parts of Venezuela on Monday to try to keep pressure on socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
Demonstrators have been on the streets daily since early April to demand elections, freedom for jailed activists, foreign humanitarian aid to offset Venezuela’s economic crisis, and autonomy for the opposition-controlled legislature.
Maduro accuses them of seeking a violent coup.
Protesters have used constantly varying tactics. Some rode horses through Caracas on Saturday, women took letters and flowers to police and military posts on Sunday’s Mother’s Day, and hundreds were joining planned daylong sit-ins from 7 a.m. on Monday.
“I’m here for the full 12 hours. And I’ll be back every day there’s a protest, for as long as is necessary,” said human resources worker Anelin Rojas, 30, sitting cross-legged with a novel and earphones in the middle of Caracas’ main highway.
“Unfortunately, we are up against a dictatorship. Nothing is going to change unless we force them,” added Rojas, surrounded by banners saying “Resistance!” and “Maduro, Your Time Is Up!”
Using branches, rocks and garbage, demonstrators blocked the main Francisco Fajardo thoroughfare in Caracas from soon after dawn. Many brought chairs, mats and food to last the day.
There were similar protests in other major cities around the South American nation of 30 million people.
In western Tachira state, some farmers were striking on Monday in solidarity with the protesters. They gave away milk and cheese so it would not go to waste, witnesses said.
The opposition, which commands majority support after years in the shadow of the ruling socialists, is more united than during the last wave of anti-Maduro protests in 2014.
But they have been unable to stop violence in their ranks, with youths hurling stones and petrol bombs, vandalizing property and starting fires when security forces block marches with tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
At least 39 people have died, including protesters, government sympathizers, bystanders, and security forces, during six weeks of protests. Hundreds have also been hurt and arrested.
The current wave of protests, which have attracted hundreds of thousands of demonstrators on some days, has drawn greater support from the poor – who backed late leader Hugo Chavez massively but have soured on his successor Maduro and who have suffered most from four years of recession. But the main protests have still been taking place in middle class areas.
Maduro, 54, who narrowly won election to replace Chavez in 2013, says he is the victim of an international right-wing conspiracy that has already brought down leftist governments in Brazil, Argentina and Peru in recent years.
As international pressure on him grows, the European Union on Monday became the latest to call for elections in its most outspoken statement yet on the Venezuela crisis.
Authorities thwarted an opposition push for a referendum last year and have also delayed state gubernatorial elections. But Maduro vowed at the weekend the next presidential election, due in late 2018, would go ahead.
“We will thrash them!” he predicted, though pollsters widely foresee defeat for the ruling Socialist Party at any open vote.
The government is also setting up a controversial body called a constituent assembly, with authority to rewrite the constitution and shake up public powers.
Maduro says that is needed to bring peace to Venezuela, but foes view it as a cynical tactic to buy time and create a biased body that could perpetuate the socialists’ rule.
(Additional reporting by Anggy Polanco in San Cristobal, Maria Ramirez in Ciudad Bolivar; Robin Emmott in Brussels; Editing by Frances Kerry)
