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U.S. orders Venezuela embassy families out, crisis deepens

By Alexandra Ulmer and Fabian Cambero

 

Demonstrators clash with riot security forces at a rally during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

 

CARACAS (Reuters) - The U.S. government ordered family members of employees at its embassy in Venezuela to leave on Thursday as a political crisis deepened ahead of a controversial vote critics contend will end democracy in the oil-rich country.

 

Violence continued to rage on the street, with another five people killed during the latest opposition-led strike against President Nicolas Maduro's planned election for a powerful new Constituent Assembly on Sunday.

 

Adding to Venezuela's growing international isolation, Colombian airline Avianca suddenly stopped operations in the country on Thursday due to "operational and security limitations".

 

Maduro's critics were planning to pile more pressure on the unpopular leftist leader by holding roadblocks across the nation dubbed "The Takeover of Venezuela" on Friday.

 

"We're going to keep fighting, we're not leaving the streets," said opposition lawmaker Jorge Millan.

 

The government banned protests from Friday to Tuesday, raising the likelihood of more violence in volatile Venezuela. Many people have been stocking up food and staying home.

 

As well as ordering relatives to leave, the U.S. State Department on Thursday also authorized the voluntary departure of any U.S. government employee at its compound-like hilltop embassy in Caracas.

 

President Donald Trump has warned his administration could impose economic sanctions on Venezuela if Maduro goes ahead with the vote to create the legislative superbody.

 

The Constituent Assembly would have power to rewrite the constitution and shut down the existing opposition-led legislature, which the opposition maintains would cement dictatorship in Venezuela.

 

At least 108 people have died in anti-government unrest convulsing Venezuela since April, when the opposition launched protests demanding conventional elections to end nearly two decades of socialist rule.

 

(For graphics on Venezuela's economic crisis and anti-government protests see: http://tmsnrt.rs/2pPJdRb and http://tmsnrt.rs/2ujuylf)

 

ANTI-MADURO STRIKE

 

Many streets remained barricaded and deserted on Thursday during the second day of a nationwide work stoppage.

 

Plenty of rural areas and working-class urban neighbourhoods were bustling, however, and the strike appeared less massively supported than a one-day shutdown last week.

 

With Venezuela already brimming with shuttered stores and factories, amid a blistering four-year recession, the effectiveness of any strike can be hard to gauge. Many Venezuelans live hand-to-mouth and say they must keep working.

 

In Barinas, home state of former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, only about a third of businesses were closed according to a Reuters witness, as opposed to the opposition's formal estimate of 90 percent participation nationally.

 

"I am opposed to the government and I agree we must do everything we can to get out of this mess, but I depend on my work. If I don't work, my family does not eat," said Ramon Alvarez, a 45-year-old barber at his shop in Barinas.

 

There has been widespread international condemnation of Maduro's Constituent Assembly plan. The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions against 13 current and former officials for corruption, undermining democracy, and participating in repression.

 

Government officials and candidates for the Constituent Assembly wrapped up campaigning on Thursday with a rally in Caracas with Maduro.

 

The former bus driver and union leader reiterated that the assembly was the only way to bring peace to Venezuela, blasted threats of further sanctions from "emperor Donald Trump," and hit back at accusations that he is morphing into a tyrant.

 

"The usual suspects came out to say Maduro had become crazy," he told cheering red-shirted supporters in Caracas.

"Of course, I was crazy! Crazy with passion, crazy with a desire for peace."

 

Amid rumours of 11th-hour attempts to foster negotiations, Maduro reiterated an invitation to dialogue with the opposition, although such talks have flopped in the past.

 

DEATHS, ARRESTS

 

The state prosecutor's office said a 49-year-old man was killed during a protest in Carabobo state and a 16-year old died in the middle class area of El Paraiso in Caracas on Thursday.

 

A 23-year-old man and a 30-year-old man were killed in western Merida state and a 16-year-old boy was killed in the poor Caracas neighbourhood of Petare during clashes on Wednesday.

 

Five people were also killed in unrest during last week's one-day strike.

 

Over 190 people were arrested during the stoppage on Wednesday and 39 on Thursday, said local rights group Penal Forum. Since April, authorities have rounded up nearly 4,800 people, of whom 1,325 remain behind bars, the group said.

 

Wuilly Arteaga, a violinist who has become one of the best-known faces of the protests, was among those detained by the National Guard, Penal Forum added.

 

(Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago, Brian Ellsworth, Alexandra Ulmer, Anggy Polanco, Andrew Cawthorne, Diego Ore, and Girish Gupta in Caracas, Mircely Guanipa in Punto Fijo, Francisco Aguilar in Barinas, Maria Ramirez in Bolivar, Eric Beech in Washington D.C., and Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne and Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Toni Reinhold, Andrew Cawthorne and Michael Perry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-28

[retarius]

This is a great shame. I lived in Caracas for a short time in the early 80s....I suppose during the heady days of high oil prices. It seemed like everyone had a (real) Rolex and vacationed in the US. To see it brought so low by those seeking to overthrow the President is very sad. 

[topt]

3 hours ago, retarius said:

To see it brought so low by those seeking to overthrow the President is very sad. 

Have you actually read anything about the current crisis/issues and how they have come about?

 

Or do you just disagree with democratic change...........

[Ulic]

I just met a young teacher from Canada who was planning on accepting

a teaching job there this September. He was well traveled and had worked

around the world. I asked him if he had followed the political events and

economic realities of Venezuela the past few years. He seemed unconcerned.

I wished him the best of luck on his adventurous choice but was left scratching

my head.