CARACAS, Venezuela – Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in the streets of Venezuela’s capital, Caracas on Wednesday, shouting, “Democracy yes! Dictatorship no!” Citizens of Venezuela want to overthrow the incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, accusing the president of neglecting his job. The outcry fired up when the president’s allies stopped a recall referendum to remove the president from power.
Opposition leaders called the nationwide demonstration as “the takeover of Venezuela.” According to the Foro Penal human rights group, police detained at least 140 people and one police officer was shot and killed. Two other people were injured in central Miranda state for unknown reasons.
One of the opposition leaders, Henrique Capriles said, “Maduro has shown how scared he is that the people will express themselves”.
Last week, the electoral authorities impeded a retraction vote against Maduro. The move sparked the uproar of the Venezuelans. The conflict intensified on Tuesday when the opposition voted to put the president on trial blaming him for staging a coup.
“Neglecting his job”
Opposition leaders claimed that the president had effectively abandoned his job because of neglect. Venezuelans blame Maduro’s administration for the “country’s triple-digit inflation”, degrading economy, food, and medicine shortages.
While a violent nationwide protest raged on, a smaller group of government supporters held a rally downtown of the city, which President Maduro attended.
Correspondingly, opposition leaders ended “Wednesday’s national day of protest” to prepare for a bigger demonstration on Friday. According to activists, they will launch another protest on the presidential palace on November 3 if they continue to prevent the referendum to retract the president.
However, a ban exists on holding demonstrations in front of the presidential palace since 2002. It was the year a massive uprising occurred against the former President Hugo Chavez.
Nationwide demonstration
Police deployed tear gas in the provincial capitals which caused injuries to many. The left-wing activists broke into the protected regional electoral office in the border state of Tachira. They also spray painted anti-government slogans in the main entrance.
On the other part of Caracas, students have shown their disapproval at the administration by casually sitting on the country’s main highway. Victoria Rodriguez aged 18 and a recent high school graduate is one of the many protesters. She said that she wants to cast her first vote against Maduro because she feels like “living in an emptying country”. Out of her 25 classmates, 15 have already left since July, just after graduation.
Rodriguez said, “People are tired of going to the streets and then going home. The opposition is letting the streets go cold. They are giving the government too much time to maneuver.” Her statement conveys her disappointment to the opposition leaders for the slow progress to veto the president.
Supreme Court ruling
On Thursday, the congress expects deliberation on Maduro’s responsibility issues which caused the deteriorating political and economic crisis. However, the result will not make much of a difference. Venezuela’s National Assembly cannot impeach the president, only the Supreme Court has that power. Sadly, the institution has never voted against the president.
Both the administration and the opposition agreed to a bilateral talk to resolve the crisis. On Sunday, the Vatican and other South American governments are set to mediate the dialogue in the Caribbean island of Margarita. Maduro said he will personally travel to Margarita to commence the meeting. In lieu of the talk, the president met privately with Pope Francis on Monday.
During the previous crises, the two parties tried dialogue but the opposition had a very limited hope of winning. The administration is in full control of all the government institutions including the military, which displayed no interest in siding with the opposition.
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