[t]http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2017/5/24/b31e0d6210504876814f102e4e975029_18.jpg[/t]
[QUOTE]Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has pressed ahead with a plan to create a popular assembly with the ability to rewrite the constitution, drawing instant criticism from the opposition.
Maduro says the grassroots body is needed to bring peace to Venezuela, where nearly two months of anti-government protests have left more than 50 people dead, but opponents view it as a cynical tactic to buy time and avoid a general election.
At an open air rally before thousands of red-shirted supporters, Maduro on Tuesday signed a document formally establishing the terms for electing members of a "constituent assembly" that will be tasked with drafting a new constitution.
"Votes or bullets, what do the people want?" Maduro asked the crowd, presenting the proposed 540-member body as a way to defuse increasingly violent protests, which he says are part of a US-backed conspiracy to overthrow "21st Century socialism".
"Let's go to elections now!" he said, before detailing how the new assembly will be partially elected by votes at a municipal level and partially by different groups, including workers, farmers, students, and indigenous people.
The head of the pro-government electoral council said on Tuesday voting for the "constituent assembly" would be held in late July.
Regional gubernatorial elections, meant to have been held last year, would take place on December 10, he added.
The opposition-controlled National Assembly promptly rejected Maduro's plan.
"The Venezuelan people do not want a fraudulent Madurist constitution and we will not accept it," opposition leader Henrique Capriles tweeted.
Maduro's rivals fear that a new constituent assembly could rewrite rules or exclude opposition parties, making a sham of future elections that could vanquish the ruling socialists if the polls were free and fair.
"Today's decision is nothing more than an evil announcement meant to divide, distract, and confuse Venezuelans further," said Congress President Julio Borges, the opposition leader whose coalition is pushing for early elections, humanitarian aid to alleviate food and medicine shortages, and freedom for jailed activists.
"Today we've entered a new stage and that means more struggle and more street action," Borges added
A Supreme Court magistrate decried the planned assembly, saying it was "not the solution to the crisis" and called on Maduro to "think carefully" to avoid more bloodshed.
Venezuela's state prosecutor also warned that Maduro's plan also risked deepening the crisis.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/nicolas-maduro-launches-constitution-overhaul-170524064544072.html[/url]
There's gonna be a bloody revolution very soon.
Either he's trying to democratise to save his neck or he's trying desperately to hold onto power
[QUOTE=Mallow234;52270021]Either he's trying to democratise to save his neck or he's trying desperately to hold onto power[/QUOTE]
It's the latter, the way they plan on proceeding with the voting would result in an overwhelming majority of Chavista constituents with only 20% of the vote. Maduro cannot possibly win a fair election right now.
It's important to note that the Chavistas consider the constitution to be perfect as it was redacted by Chavez in one of his first acts as president. Maduro has faced significant opposition from within his lines regarding this constituent assembly. This could possibly be the thing that ousts him from power.
Its terrible that its come to this, the only way out now for the Venezuelan people is violence.
This fat idiot is going to be murdered by his own countrymen eventually, does he not understand this?
Also related, Venezuelan ambassador to Peru [URL="http://elcomercio.pe/mundo/latinoamerica/mundo-hay-presidente-democratico-nicolas-maduro-425501"]claims that "No other president in the world is more democratic than Nicolas Maduro"[/URL] (Both sources are in spanish, but El Comercio is [I]the[/I] oldest newspaper in Peru. It's also one of, if the most, decent ones)
Meanwhile, the Venezuelan state attorney [URL="http://elcomercio.pe/mundo/latinoamerica/venezuela-fiscal-general-pone-evidencia-contradicciones-chavismo-425906"]has declared the military guilty of killing a protester[/URL] by firing (Expired) tear gas directly at a group of protestors. Hours later, the minister of the Interior has praises the military's role in "bringing the situation under control", and has accused the State Ministry of inaction.
This shitfest is going to end with blood and refugees.
[QUOTE=T553412;52272124]
This shitfest is going to end with blood and refugees.[/QUOTE]
This shitfest going be USA future too unless we clean out corruption.
[QUOTE=Guriosity;52273529]This shitfest going be USA future too unless we clean out corruption.[/QUOTE]
nah dude it's totally different cause he's a leftist and trumps right wing
--person who doesn't understand the political compass and how the problem is authoritarianism, regardlesss of the economic agenda of that authoritarianism
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.