President Nicolas Maduro has detailed his plans for a brand new popular assembly designed to defeat a 'fascist coup' in Venezuela. Critics say it's just a sham to avoid going to a general election.
Image: Reuters/C. Barria
Advertisement
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday formally pushed ahead with moves to rewrite the constitution, despite opposition claims he is attempting to avoid a general election.
"Votes or bullets, what do the people want?" Maduro asked the crowd at the Miraflores presidential palace. "Let's go to elections now!"
Maduro then unveiled details of the new assembly that would be tasked with drafting a new constitution. He said it would be partially elected by votes at a municipal level and partly by special constituencies and organizations such as workers and retirees.
The head of the pro-government electoral council said Tuesday that officials were looking to hold elections as soon as July for the new "constituent assembly."
Venezuela has been hit by increasingly violent protests as citizens struggle to buy foodImage: picture-alliance/CITYPRESS 24/F. Bruzco
Sham to keep power
Opposition leaders slammed the project as a sham to keep Maduro in power and avoid a general election.
"Maduro and the electoral council think that the country and its opposition leaders are dumb, that we're going to start bickering over governorships while they get away with fraud," opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro said on Tuesday night.
Protests paralyze Venezuela's society
DW talked to Venezuelan journalist and photographer Ivan Reyes whose images highlight the stories of the people marching against the government.
Image: Ivan Reyes
Journalism born of need
"I’d been working as a journalist for a year when the protests started in 2014. Many independent media have come into existence in the last two years due to the government censorship, and that's how I became a reporter," Ivan Reyes told DW. He started capturing the new wave of riots on a daily basis at the end of March.
Image: Ivan Reyes
Welcome to the stone age
The ruling by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, which took away immunity from opposition parliamentarians, set off a surge of protests paralyzing the country. Although the protests were peaceful at first, government forces soon started throwing stones into the crowds. "Seriously, the police were given stones! This man, Lino Rivera, was hit by one on April 4," Reyes said.
Image: Ivan Reyes
Highway to hell
The marches take place all over Caracas every day, but they usually end on the city highways. This photo shows two officers of the national guard shooting tear gas grenades into the lines of protesters. "The projectiles should be shot above people’s heads - so the international laws says," says Reyes. "But the armed forces shoot straight into the demonstrators."
Image: Ivan Reyes
"We are all Juan"
Juan Pablo Pernalete, 20, died after being hit by a projectile on April 26. The death of the student of Universidad Metropolitana triggered angry protests in the following days. "People were chanting 'Todos somos Juan! Todos somos Juan!'" ("We are all Juan") Reyes told DW. Congressmen Miguel Pizarro and Carlos Paparoni and the Governor of Miranda Henrique Capriles all came to pay tribute.
Image: Ivan Reyes
Evasive action
Defense has become the key element for survival. "The people seem to be organized better every day," says Reyes. Against the wishes of the protest leaders, several groups have started using DIY weapons and even Molotov cocktails against the government forces, as seen in this photo. "It’s a battle they can’t win," says Reyes.
Image: Ivan Reyes
Heros of the day
"Jesús was one of those injured in the demonstrations on May 4. He was gasping and stuttering after he got hit in the head. People in the crowd spotted him and carried him to one side where paramedics gave him first aid. The members of Primeros Auxilios UCV are the real heroes of history," Reyes said of the group of doctors who go to the protests every day to help the injured.
Image: Ivan Reyes
The wrath of the women scorned
On May 6, a women’s protest against the regime was organized by Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, Venezuela's opposition party. The march wasn’t allowed to reach its destination, the Ministry of Justice, as they were halted by female officers of the national police. Former politician María Corina Machado and the student president of Universidad Central de Venezuela were among the protesters.
Image: Ivan Reyes
Ode to Venezuela
This image shot by Reyes went viral right after it was published by the author on May 8. The picture is one of the strongest snapshots from the Venezuelan protests, showing a young man walking down a road playing the Venezuelan anthem. "I don’t see the protests ending soon," said Reyes. "Let’s see which side gets tired first."
Image: Ivan Reyes
8 images1 | 8
Critics said the groups given a vote in the assembly were dominated by the ruling socialists. They claimed the new voting system would undermine Venezuela's democratic tradition of universal suffrage and direct elections by secret ballot, saying the method would tilt the outcome in favor of the government.
The proposed new constitutional body would sit in the chamber of the National Assembly legislature, which is the only state institution nominally controlled by his opponents.
"What Nicolas Maduro has announced is nothing but a continuation of a coup against the constitution," said the opposition speaker of the legislature, Julio Borges.
"This National Assembly calls on Venezuelans to continue peaceful protests morning, noon and night in all corners of Venezuela until the constitution is respected," Borges said.
Even Venezuela's state prosecutor panned his project, warning it risked deepening the crisis.
Elections scheduled for December
50th day of protests in Venezuela
00:32
This browser does not support the video element.
The electoral council said it was also scheduling long-delayed regional elections for December, although the proposed assembly could prevent them. Maduro abruptly postponed regional elections last year after it emerged the opposition was heavily favored to win.
