Tag Archives: opposition

Backed to the wall, Cambodia’s opposition urges world to help

Mu Sochua, Deputy President of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), listens during an interview with Reuters in Phnom Penh, Cambodia September 4, 2017.

By Matthew Tostevin

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Foreign donors must open their eyes to Cambodia’s “false democracy” and put more pressure on Prime Minister Hun Sen after the arrest for treason of his main rival, Kem Sokha, a top opposition figure said on Monday.

Mu Sochua, known internationally for campaigns against sex trafficking and for women’s rights, said the opposition had done as much as it could and would not call for demonstrations because it believed in non-violence.

Now the world had to save Cambodia, which has taken decades to recover from the Khmer Rouge genocide, she said.

“There isn’t true peace. There has always been a false democracy,” said Mu Sochua, 63, who is one of three deputies to Kem Sokha in the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

“The international community have been willing to close their eyes and play along with it. Right now all the red lines have been crossed,” she told Reuters in an interview in Phnom Penh.

Kem Sokha was arrested on Sunday and accused of plotting treason with the United States in an escalating crackdown on Hun Sen’s critics that has also targeted independent media and rights groups in the run-up to an election next year.

Kem Sokha’s lawyer had been allowed to visit him for the first time on Monday and he seemed to be OK, she said.

The opposition party was not calling for cuts in aid or trade, Mu Sochua said. But donors needed to make clear what they could do and convince Hun Sen that he would have no legitimacy from a flawed election.

“We are asking for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr Kem Sokha,” she said. “We hope the international community will come up to our expectations.”

She welcomed statements from both the United States and European Union, which have criticized the arrest of Kem Sokha and questioned whether next year’s elections can be fair.

 

HUN SEN DEFIANT

But Hun Sen, who has pulled in billions of dollars in Chinese loans and become one of Beijing’s closest regional allies, has only condemned foreign interference.

“We can’t allow any group to destroy the peace we hold in our hands by being the puppets of foreigners,” said Hun Sen, 65, a former Khmer Rouge soldier who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades.

Mu Sochua said the opposition wanted dialogue with the ruling Cambodian People’s Party under the auspices of countries that signed and guaranteed peace accords in Paris in 1991: the biggest world powers, Asian powers and Southeast Asian states.

“We have done everything possible,” she said. “When there is use of force by a corrupt judiciary we are very vulnerable. That’s why we’re saying ‘don’t defend the opposition, defend Cambodia’.”

Opposition party leaders met on Sunday to discuss the next steps after Kem Sokha’s arrest, but with few obvious options.

They would definitely not call for protests, Mu Sochua said. Replacing Kem Sokha would not happen either.

“That’s exactly in the scenario of Mr Hun Sen,” she said, raising the possibility of an election boycott if Kem Sokha were not released.

“That would be a last resort. We cannot pretend that we will go into something that will totally destroy the party and we cannot be part of the destruction of democracy in Cambodia,” she said.

Kem Sokha, 64, only became leader in February after his predecessor, Sam Rainsy, resigned in the face of a new law to ban any party whose leader has been found guilty of a crime.

Sam Rainsy lives in France to escape a defamation conviction.

Parties were then banned from even having links to convicted criminals, prompting the CNRP to go around old posters with paint brushes to obliterate Sam Rainsy’s picture. Party officials are not allowed to mention his name.

“Maybe when Mr Kem Sokha is convicted we can’t mention his name either, but then who’s next?” Mu Sochua said.

“In the minds of the Cambodian people, we know who is our leader in our hearts.”

 

(Additional reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Robert Birsel)

 

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 Socialist-run ‘truth commission’ to investigate opposition

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) – Opposition candidates running in Venezuela’s October gubernatorial elections will be investigated to make sure none were involved in violent political protests this year, the head of a new pro-government truth commission said on Wednesday.

The panel was set up earlier in the day by the constituent assembly elected last month at the behest of socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Government critics say the commission is designed to sideline the opposition and bolster the ruling party’s flagging support ahead of the October vote.

Also before the assembly is a bill that would punish those who express “hate or intolerance” with up 25 years in jail. The opposition fears such a law would be used to silence criticism of a government that, according to local rights group Penal Forum is, is already holding 676 political prisoners.

“Whoever goes into the streets to express intolerance and hatred, will be captured and will be tried and punished with sentences of 15, 20, 25 years of jail,” Maduro said last week.

Over 120 people have died in four months of protests against the president’s handling of an economy beset by triple-digit inflation and acute food shortages.

Maduro loyalist Delcy Rodriguez was named as head of the truth commission, on top of being president of the assembly. She said she would ask the country’s CNE elections authority for information about candidates running in October.

“We have decided to ask the CNE to send a complete list of gubernatorial candidates to the truth commission in order to determine if any of the them were involved in incidents of violence,” Rodriguez told the assembly, stressing this would have a “cleansing effect” on Venezuela.

“We have seen tweets, messages on social networks and photographs of opposition leaders responsible for convening and organizing violent events in Venezuela,” Rodriguez told the commission on Wednesday.

“JAIL ANYONE, FOR ALMOST ANYTHING”

Maduro defends the all-powerful assembly as the country’s only hope for peace and prosperity.

“The question is whether this is the peace he’s looking for: creating a law that gives him and his obedient supreme court judiciary powers to lock up dissidents for 25 years,” Tamara Taraciuk, head Venezuela researcher for Human Rights Watch, said in a Wednesday telephone interview.

“The proposal includes incredibly vague language that would allow them to jail anyone for almost anything,” she added.

The opposition, which won control of congress in 2015 but has seen its decisions nullified by Maduro’s loyalist Supreme Court, boycotted the late July election of the assembly.

‘ENTRENCHED IMPUNITY’

In its first session after being elected on July 30, the assembly fired Venezuela’s top prosecutor Luisa Ortega and appointed a Maduro loyalist to replace her.

The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists said in a report on Wednesday that Ortega’s dismissal “removes one of the last remaining institutional checks on executive authority.”

The country’s new chief prosecutor, Maduro’s ex-human rights ombudsman Tarek Saab, on Wednesday outlined corruption accusations against Ortega and her husband German Ferrer.

They, and members of Ortega’s former staff of prosecutors, are accused of running an “extortion gang” and funneling profits to an account in the Bahamas, the new chief prosecutor said.

“The Sebin (intelligence service) is raiding my house right now as part of the government’s revenge for our fight against totalitarianism in Venezuela,” Ortega said on Twitter late Wednesday afternoon.

It was not immediately possible to reach Ferrer. In the past, his wife Ortega has said accusations against them are politically motivated.

(Additional reporting by Diego Ore, Alexandra Ulmer and Girish Gupta, Editing by Clive McKeef, and Alexandra Ulmer)

Kenyan government attempts to close down two rights groups

Ballot boxes are stacked at a tallying centre in Mombasa, Kenya, August 9, 2017. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola

By Katharine Houreld and Duncan Miriri

NAIROBI (Reuters) – The Kenyan government is trying to shut down a rights group and a pro-democracy organization who raised queries over last week’s disputed presidential election, officials said on Tuesday, provoking international condemnation of the attempted closures.

Official letters from the NGO Board – the government-run body that registers and regulates NGOs – to the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG) said the two organizations risked punishment for administrative and tax reasons.

International and domestic observers have said the election process was largely free and fair, but opposition leader Raila Odinga has disputed the official results, which show incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta won by a margin of 1.4 million votes.

The NGO Board did not return calls or emails seeking comment on the letters and Reuters reporters were not permitted to enter its offices.

Mwenda Njoka, a spokesman for the interior minister, said the letters, circulating on social media, were genuine. AfriCOG and KNRC said they had not received any official communication.

“This is an attack on any kind of independent voice,” said Gladwell Otieno, the executive director of AfriCOG.

Otieno repeatedly raised concerns about what she described as insufficient preparations by the election board in the run-up to last Tuesday’s elections, when Kenyans chose a new president, lawmakers and local representatives.

Both organizations also expressed public concern over the unsolved torture and murder of a key election official a week before the vote.

International rights groups Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein urged the government to respect the work of NGOs.

“The High Commissioner called for civil society actors and media to be allowed to work without hindrance or fear of retaliation,” the U.N. said in a statement from Geneva.

POLITICAL TARGETS

Odinga has not yet provided any evidence of rigging. His rejection of results triggered demonstrations and a deadly crackdown by police in his strongholds, including Nairobi slums and the western city of Kisumu.

He was due to give a much-anticipated speech to the nation on Tuesday but postponed it until Wednesday, a spokeswoman for his opposition coalition said.

George Kegoro, the head of KHRC, said his organization was compliant with all laws and was being targeted for political reasons. He denied they had failed to pay taxes, operated “illegal” bank accounts or employed foreigners without work permits.

“If you operate in the kind of environment we do, we have to be compliant. The rules are a drag but we observe them,” he said.

His organization had already successfully defended itself in High Court against the same accusations, he said, making the new letter threatening de-registration “a travesty of justice”.

“We think its got to do with the politics of the season. We’ve played a leadership role in organizing civil society participation in this election. They (the government) don’t like that.”

Otieno said her organization did not fall under rules governing non-governmental organizations and was properly registered.

Njoka denied the organizations were being politically targeted and said: “There were some issues with their auditing and accounting … If they give good accounts they may not be de-registered.”

(Additional reporting by George Obulutsa; writing by Katharine Houreld, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Kenyan opposition supporters celebrate poll victory claim, rejected by officials

A supporter of Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga carries a banner and shouts slogans as others run along a street in Humura neighbourhood, in Nairobi, Kenya August 10, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

By Katharine Houreld and Maggie Fick

NAIROBI/KISUMU, Kenya (Reuters) – Celebrations broke out in pockets of Kenya on Thursday after the opposition said Raila Odinga should be declared winner of the presidential vote, a claim rejected as “ridiculous” by an election commission official.

An opposition official said information from “confidential sources” showed Odinga had secured victory, contradicting official preliminary results released so far which show President Uhuru Kenyatta had won 54.2 percent of votes, ahead of Odinga on 44.9 percent – a lead of 1.4 million votes with 99 percent of polling stations reported.

International observers on Thursday praised the handling of the election and the European Union mission said it had seen no sign of manipulation during voting.

As they wait for final results to be tallied and confirmed, many Kenyans are nervous of a repeat of the clashes that killed about 1,200 people after the bitterly contested 2007 election.

Musalia Mudavadi, a senior official in the opposition coalition, told reporters information from “confidential sources” at the election commission showed Odinga had secured victory by just under 300,000 votes. He provided no evidence but demanded Odinga be declared winner.

Minutes later, hundreds of Odinga supporters, mainly young men, poured onto the streets of the opposition stronghold of Kisumu in celebration. At least one truck of anti-riot police followed them, a Reuters witness said. Some older men tried to convince the youth not to join the crowds.

There were pockets of similar celebrations in opposition strongholds in Nairobi as well.

After complaining of fraud, Odinga told Reuters he believed most of more than 20,000 polling station result forms uploaded to the election commission’s website were fake.

Odinga said results were being filled out by agents working out of a Nairobi hotel but he did not provide any evidence. He previously said the election commission’s computer network had been hacked and that results were “fictitious”.

A senior official in the election commission rejected the opposition’s claims.

“They have done their own additions and they think Raila has 8 million (votes), which is ridiculous, there is nothing,” Abdi Yakub Guliye said. “As far as we are concerned, we don’t believe they have any credible data.”

Kenyatta, a 55-year-old businessman seeking a second five-year term, and Odinga, loser of Kenya’s last two elections amid similar claims of fraud, are the heads of Kenya’s two political dynasties.

Earlier in the week, Odinga urged his supporters to remain calm but warned: “I don’t control the people.”

NO “MANIPULATION”

In its first assessment of Tuesday’s poll, the European Union’s election observer mission said it had seen no signs of “centralised or localised manipulation” of the voting process.

Marietje Schaake, head of the mission, said the EU would provide an analysis of the tallying process in a later report.

John Kerry, the former U.S. Secretary of State heading the Carter Center observer mission, said the election system, which is ultimately based on the original paper ballots cast, remained solid and all sides should wait for electronic tallies to be double-checked against hard copies.

“The process that was put in place is proving its value thus far,” Kerry said. “Kenya has made a remarkable statement to Africa and the world about its democracy and the character of that democracy. Don’t let anybody besmirch that.”

The election commission said it hoped to have all results centralised by midday on Friday and would announce a winner soon after that. It said there had been an attempt to hack into its system but said it had failed.

Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president in charge of the African Union observer mission, praised the poll so far.

“It would be very regrettable if anything emerges afterwards that sought to corrupt the outcome, to spoil that outcome,” he said.

PROTESTS

Reuters TV footage showed police firing live rounds as they clashed with youths throwing stones in Kawangware slum in Nairobi. One injured or dead person was rushed from the scene in a sack.

But most of the capital and the rest of the country were calm after four people were killed in violence on Wednesday.

Traffic flowed on Nairobi’s usually gridlocked streets but an increasing number of businesses opened.

Earlier in the day, some market stalls and shops had opened in Kisumu and more vehicles were on the street than a day earlier.

A group of men said they were eager for daily life to return and could not afford the consequences of violence in their city, which saw some of the worst clashes a decade ago.

“We don’t want to fight,” said driver Evans Omondi, 28, wearing a polo shirt and jeans. “We want to go back to work.”

In 2007, tallying was halted and the incumbent president declared the winner, triggering an outcry from Odinga’s camp and waves of ethnic violence that led to International Criminal Court charges against Kenyatta and his now-deputy William Ruto.

The cases against them collapsed as witnesses died or disappeared.

(Additional reporting by David Lewis, George Obulutsa, Rajiv Golla and Ed Cropley in Nairobi, Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Kenya opposition leader says election website hacked to show president in lead

Riot policemen deploy after demonstrators supporting opposition leader Raila Odinga, burned tyres after their political leader claimed "massive" fraud in this week's elections, in Kisumu, Kenya August 9, 2017. REUTERS/James Keyi

By Humphrey Malalo and Duncan Miriri

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Wednesday the election commission’s computer system was hacked and fake results posted to show President Uhuru Kenyatta with a strong lead in a case of massive fraud.

The election commission said Tuesday’s vote was free and fair and it was investigating whether or not its computer systems and vote-tallying database had been compromised.

Odinga’s comments raised concerns of unrest over the results in Kenya, East Africa’s leading economy and a regional hub. Around 1,200 people died in violence after a disputed election in 2007.

Speaking at a news conference, Odinga urged his supporters to remain calm, but added: “I don’t control the people”. His deputy Kalonzo Musyoka also called for calm but said the opposition might call for “action” at a later date. He gave no details.

Shortly after Odinga spoke, police fired teargas to scatter a group of around 100 supporters in the western city of Kisumu, an opposition stronghold. The unarmed men had been chanting “No Raila, no peace”.

As of 1100 GMT, the election commission website put Kenyatta in front with 54.3 percent of votes counted to 45 percent for Odinga – a margin of nearly 1.4 million ballots with more than 95 percent of polling stations reported.

Odinga published his own party’s assessment of the count on Twitter, saying he had 8.1 million votes against 7.2 million for Kenyatta.

The main local election monitoring group said its parallel vote tally was incomplete so it could not comment on the differing figures. Foreign observer missions declined to comment.

Kenyatta, a 55-year-old businessman seeking a second five-year term, had held a steady lead of around 10 percent since the start of counting after the peaceful vote, the culmination of a hard-fought contest between the heads of Kenya’s two political dynasties.

Odinga, 72, a former political prisoner and self-described leftist, described the reported hack as an attack on Kenya’s democracy and published 50 pages of computer logs on his Facebook page to support his claims.

POLLING STATIONS

Despite its multimillion dollar electronic voting system, the crucial evidence on voting comes from the paper forms signed at each of the country’s 41,000 polling stations.

Results in each polling station are recorded on a form – known as 34A – that observers from each party must sign. These should then be scanned, sent to the election board and posted on a website.

The measure is designed to ensure the elections cannot be rigged and parties can cross-check results.

On Wednesday morning, the commission said it had received 28,000 forms so far and was working to make all forms public. Neither the commission nor Odinga supplied forms to back up their numbers.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission, a well-known non-governmental organization, said it had discovered some discrepancies between provisional results on the election commission website and the paper forms.

It cited five examples, including a polling station in western Nandi county where the electoral board’s website recorded 439 rejected votes but the paper form only showed four.

Odinga ran in Kenya’s last two elections and lost, blaming vote rigging following irregularities at both polls.

In 2007, tallying was stopped and the incumbent president declared the winner, triggering an outcry from Odinga’s camp. The ethnic and political violence that followed killed 1,200 people and displaced 600,000.

International Criminal Court cases against Kenyatta and his now-deputy, William Ruto, for helping direct that violence, collapsed as witnesses died or disappeared.

In 2013, Odinga took his concerns to court. This time, he invoked the unsolved torture and murder of a top election official days before the vote to justify his fears of rigging.

“We fear this was exactly the reason Chris Msando was assassinated, so this could happen,” he said.

Hackers may have used Msando’s identity to access the electronic tallying system, Odinga said. The election commission said its password access system was secure.

Kenya’s shilling firmed and bond prices rose on early results, but analysts said gains could be fragile.

“Kenyatta’s provisional win will soothe those investors who feared a leftist shift in economic policy,” said Hasnain Malik, global head of equities research at Exotix Capital.

“The most important issues are ahead of us: Does Odinga concede peacefully? His initial rhetoric suggests there is a risk he does not.”

Kenya’s B+ credit rating and stable outlook won’t be affected by its election as long as there is no repeat of the 2007 violence, the S&P Global agency said.

(Additional reporting by Maggie Fick in Kisumu and Katharine Houreld, George Obultusa, John Ndiso and Rajiv Golla in Nairobi and Marc Jones in London; Writing by Katharine Houreld and Ed Cropley; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)

Venezuela using excessive force, arrests to crush protests: U.N.

Venezuela using excessive force, arrests to crush protests: U.N.

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) – Venezuelan security forces have wielded excessive force to suppress protests, killing dozens, and have arbitrarily detained 5,000 people since April, including 1,000 still in custody, the United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday.

It called on the government of President Nicolas Maduro to rein in security forces and investigate alleged abuses, release people arbitrarily detained, and ensure the protection of the ousted Attorney-General Luisa Ortega.

On Friday, Venezuela inaugurated a new legislative superbody that is expected to rewrite the constitution and give vast powers to Maduro’s ruling Socialist Party, defying protests and worldwide condemnation that it undermines democratic freedoms.

“We are concerned that the situation in Venezuela is escalating and these human rights violations show no signs of abating,” U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a news briefing in Geneva.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in a statement: “These violations have occurred amid the breakdown of the rule of law in Venezuela, with constant attacks by the Government against the National Assembly and the Attorney-General’s Office.”

“The responsibility for the human rights violations we are recording lies at the highest levels of Government,” he added.

Venezuela appears to be sliding toward a more volatile stage of unrest after anti-government forces looted weapons during a weekend raid on a military base and frustration over what some see as an ineffectual opposition leadership boils over.

The U.N. human rights office, in preliminary findings based on 135 interviews in Panama and from Geneva in June and July, said it had investigated 124 deaths, and found at least 46 attributable to security forces and 27 to pro-government armed groups, with the rest unclear.

“Witnesses spoke of security forces firing tear gas and buckshot at anti-Government protestors without warning. Several of the individuals interviewed said tear gas canisters were used at short range, and marbles, buckshot and nuts and bolts were used as ammunition,” Shamdasani said.

Ill-treatment and even torture have been reported in detention, while several hundred demonstrators have been brought before military rather than civilian courts, she said.

“Tactics used included electric shocks, beatings, including with helmets and sticks while handcuffed, hanging detainees by the wrists for long periods, suffocation with gas, and threats of killings – and in some cases threats of sexual violence – against the detainees or their families,” she added.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Catherine Evans and Alister Doyle)

Venezuela’s new legislative superbody opens despite wide criticism

Demonstrators build fire barricades while rallying against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela, August 4,

By Eyanir Chinea and Deisy Buitrago

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela on Friday inaugurated a new legislative superbody that is expected to rewrite the constitution and give vast new powers to the ruling Socialist Party, defying worldwide condemnation that the new assembly undermines democratic freedoms.

The 545-member assembly unanimously elected well-known allies of President Nicolas Maduro to its leadership in a show of unity, signaling that the socialists have put aside differences to focus on consolidating the all-powerful body.

Former Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, a close Maduro ally was elected to the presidency while former Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz will serve as vice president.

The leadership notably excludes Socialist Party No. 2 Diosdado Cabello, a long-time rival for power to Maduro, who himself put Rodriguez’s name forward.

“There is no humanitarian crisis here, what we have is love, what we have is a crisis of the right-wing fascists,” said Rodriguez, dressed in a bright red pantsuit, in an opening speech that paid homage to late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

“The people arrived with fighting spirit, on their feet.”

The assembly will function in the same downtown Caracas palace complex as the existing opposition-run congress, which could potentially be dissolved by the new all-powerful body.

The two bodies are expected to hold sessions in parallel, separated by an ornate cobblestone courtyard.

The largely ceremonial installation of the constituent assembly offered few hints as what its first moves would be.

Leaders including Maduro and Cabello have in recent days suggested it would quickly move against Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who broke with the government this year and described the assembly election as a fraud.

Governments ranging from Latin American neighbors to the United States and European Union have condemned the assembly, with the Vatican making a last minute plea for authorities to suspend it.

Brazil on Friday recommended that Venezuela be suspended from trade bloc Mercosur until it returns to democracy.

 

MODEST PROTESTS

Protests against the inauguration of the assembly by the opposition were relatively modest. Demonstrators have for four months been clashing with security forces, often building barricades and lobbing rocks at security forces. At least 125 people have been killed in the unrest.

“Today they’re enjoying a pyrrhic victory, without a doubt,” said opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara, who joined a group of opposition sympathizers in an upscale neighborhood of Caracas.

“We’re starting a new stage of the struggle, and we’re finishing all the discussions within the coalition to put forward a new agenda.”

Socialist Party officials arrived at congress carrying portraits of independence hero Simon Bolivar and Chavez, whose image was removed from the legislature’s main hall by the opposition legislators when they took over in January 2016.

“The constituent assembly is love, peace and loyalty,” said Raquel Rodriguez, a 57-year-old government worker who joined the march. “A lot of people have not been loyal to this (movement), but everyone here has.”

The assembly’s election on Sunday prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to label Maduro a dictator, a term the opposition has long used to describe the unpopular leader.

Opposition leader Antonio Ledezma, who had encouraged protests against the constituent assembly, on Friday morning was returned to house arrest after being briefly put back in prison.

Ledezma and fellow opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez had been taken to prison from house arrest early on Tuesday.

It was not immediately evident if Lopez would also be returned to his home.

Panama on Friday granted political asylum to two justices recently appointed by the opposition Congress to an alternative Supreme Court. Four other justices named to the alternate tribunal remain holed up in the residence of Chile’s ambassador.

 

 

(Writing by Hugh Bronstein and Brian Ellsworth; Additional reporting by Andreina Aponte, Eyanir Chinea and Enrique Pretel; Editing by W Simon and Andrew Hay)

 

Venezuela jails opposition leaders in new crackdown on opponents

Venezuela jails opposition leaders in new crackdown on opponents

By Corina Pons and Alexandra Ulmer

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela jailed two leading critics of President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday in a fresh blow to the opposition after the election of a new political body with sweeping powers to strengthen the hand of the leftist government.

The United States imposed sanctions on Maduro on Monday, calling him a “dictator” for Sunday’s election of a constituent assembly that the opposition boycotted and denounced as an affront to democracy.

In a statement announcing the jailing of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez and veteran politician Antonio Ledezma, the pro-government Supreme Court said they were planning to flee the country and had violated terms of their house arrest by making political statements and speaking to media.

But government opponents called the abrupt removal of the men from their homes by security forces in nighttime raids a sign of Maduro’s determination to silence rivals. It was a view shared by U.S. President Donald Trump, who issued a statement condemning “the actions of the Maduro dictatorship.”

“Mr. Lopez and Mr. Ledezma are political prisoners being held illegally by the regime,” it said, calling “for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.”

About 120 people have been killed in more than four months of anti-government street protests, including at least 10 during Sunday’s vote.

Maduro says the constituent assembly was designed to restore peace to Venezuela. Lopez and Ledezma had called for protests against Sunday’s vote. In addition to rewriting the constitution, the legislative superbody will have the power to dissolve the opposition-led congress, eliminating any institutional check on Maduro’s powers.

Lopez had been held more than three years in a military jail until last month, when he was unexpectedly released in what was seen as a potential breakthrough in the country’s political standoff.

Attempts to get the opposition and the government to reach a negotiated deal subsequently floundered, however, and allies said Lopez, 46, may have been jailed again because he rejected government proposals.

“They have kidnapped Leopoldo Lopez because he simply would not break under the pressures and false promises of the regime,” said Freddy Guevara, a legislator in the Popular Will party led by Lopez.

A U.S.-educated economist and former mayor in Caracas, Lopez is beloved by some in the opposition for his hard line anti-government stance and has become an international cause celebre.

The government sees him as an elitist coup-monger, and even some opposition sympathizers have criticized him for being hot-headed and authoritarian.

In a sign of heightening tensions, Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz said Beatriz Ruiz and Jose Fernando Nunez, both recently appointed judges of an alternative Supreme Court by the opposition parliament, took refuge in Chile’s embassy in Caracas on Tuesday and may be granted political asylum.

The U.S. Congress, meanwhile, mulled possible additional measures aimed at influencing Maduro. Senator Ben Cardin, the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said Monday’s sanctions against the Venezuelan leader were not enough, and that punitive economic measures targeting the country’s vital oil sector may be in order.

The United States is Venezuela’s No. 1 crude importer. Actions targeting Venezuelan oil would likely heap more damage onto an economy already suffering from a deep recession, food shortages and the world’s highest inflation rate.

“Our objective needs to be to help the people of Venezuela through this extremely dangerous humanitarian crisis … and ultimately to get Venezuela back on a democratic path,” Cardin said.

AN ARREST FORETOLD

Lopez himself suspected he would be detained again, and had recorded a video alongside his wife Lilian Tintori in which he urged Venezuelans to keep fighting if he was put back behind bars.

“If you’re seeing this video it’s precisely because that’s what happened, they jailed me again, illegally and unjustly,” said Lopez, in the video shown on social media on Tuesday.

Blamed by many for rising poverty in Venezuela, Maduro has faced almost daily protests demanding freedom for jailed politicians, early elections to replace him and permitted entry of humanitarian aid such as food and medicines.

Lopez and Ledezma were both taken from their homes to Ramo Verde, a military jail in a slum area about an hour’s drive from the capital, according to lawyers and family.

Lopez was originally arrested for his role in leading street demonstrations against Maduro. Ledezma, a 62-year-old veteran politician, had been arrested on charges of plotting a coup.

Condemnation of Tuesday’s arrests also came from the United Nations human rights chief, the president of the European Parliament and other governments.

“We express our solidarity with Leopoldo Lopez, Antonio Ledezma and other political prisoners in Venezuela,” Mexico’s Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Twitter.

(Additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth, Eyanir Chinea, Diego Ore, Hugh Bronstein, Fabian Cambero and Andreina Aponte in Caracas, Tom Miles in Geneva, Sarah White in Madrid, Patricia Zengerle and Yeganeh Torbati in Washington D.C., Mitra Taj in Lima, Adriana Barrera in Mexico City and Robert-Jan Bartunek in Brussels; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer and Brian Ellsworth; Editing by W Simon and Tom Brown)

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)