Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has threatened to jail factory owners who halt production, after declaring a 60-day state of emergency.
Crowds of Venezuelan opposition members gathered Saturday in Caracas to demand that electoral authorities act quickly to hold a recall referendum that might succeed in removing from office the president of Venezuela, the Chavista Nicolas Maduro. Maduro was quick to liken Brazil’s situation to his own country’s instability – calling it a “coup” which was “made in the U.S.A”. “You know there’s a crisis coming”, one USA official said.
The US officials spoke on condition of anonymity about Venezuela to a small group of reporters, including one from The Post.
Maduro said Friday that a plot against his government was being “activated in Washington, requested and pushed by elements of the fascist Venezuelan right, emboldened by the coup d’etat in Brazil” – a reference to the impeachment trial opened Thursday in Brasilia against suspended leftist president Dilma Rousseff.
The opposition says it has collected 1.8 million signatures backing the referendum. The opposition Saturday slammed the state of emergency, vowing to push for a recall vote to eject him from power.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, already struggling to keep his country’s lights on and its stores stocked with basic food, faces a series of challenges to forestall a recall election and thwart creditors awaiting a seemingly inevitable debt default. According to president Maduro, these measures are needed to fight an economic war introduced by foreign forces that are causing the problems in the nation. Maduro blames the USA for the situation, and vows to cling on to power despite a recent poll that shows 70 per cent of the population want to see him leave.
If Maduro was to lose a referendum held before January 10, new elections could be called. On Wednesday, Venezuelan security forces used tear gas and pepper spray against an opposition march.
Protests are on the rise and a key poll shows almost 70%of Venezuelans now say Maduro must go this year. Venezuela isn’t even averaging $30 a barrel on the oil they manage to ship because their oil is heavy and sour, which results in prices in the mid-teens when Brent and WTI are averaging significantly higher, Eric Smith, an associate director of the university’s Tulane Energy Institute, said in an analysis piece for CNN. So far Maduro’s government is blocking the initiative.
United States officials have been especially disappointed by the undisciplined, divided opposition to Maduro, the Post said. For example, with the recent decision by oil providers Schlumberger and Halliburton to reduce operations in Venezuela, oil production, which accounts for 96 percent of export earnings, could fall this year below 2 million barrels per day for the first time in more than two decades.
But the opposition – itself divided and ill-disciplined – has been a disappointment to the Obama administration. Maduro’s declaration was harshly criticized on Saturday by opposition leaders, who believe it reflects desperation to cling to the reigns of power.
