Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Venezuela set for explosive showdown as tensions rise

People walk past the National Assembly building in Caracas yesterday.

New National Assembly speaker blocked from entering, as opposition, Chavismo prepare marches

CARACAS — Venezuela stands on the verge of a potentially explosive showdown today, with the nation’s politicians and their supporters set to take to the streets in two high-profile rival marches marking the first official day of lawmaking in the new opposition-led National Assembly.

Adding to the tensions, the opposition’s newly chosen speaker for the chamber, political veteran and Democratic Action (AD) party leader Henry Ramos Allup, was blocked yesterday from entering the National Assembly’s administrative building by Security Manager Esmir Mendoza, as Chavist supporters shouted abuse.

Deputy Miguel Ángel Rodríguez reported the news on Twitter at midday via a series of photographs that drew attention. The opposition lawmakers waited and later decided to leave, upon which they were surrounded and abused by Chavist supporters, they claimed.

“I was about to ask for some paper so I could list my bank account and property, but they wouldn’t allow me in,” Ramos told local newspaper El Universal.

Newly elected deputies from the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition and their supporters will march to from downtown Caracas to the congressional building in the capital today for the “5E Peace” march, in a bid to ensure the 112 deputies elected in the December 6 elections are allowed to take their seats in the chamber.

Backers of under-fire President Nicolás Maduro, the ruling Socialist (PSUV) party and the Bolivarian revolution led by the late Hugo Chávez however are also due to take to the streets, for a demonstration to “defend the revolution,” raising the spectre of clashes between the two groups.

When the first session of the National Assembly is convened today, it will be the first time in more than 16 years that the opposition has a majority.

Fears grew last night that the day may be marked by violence. Complicating the situation further are four newly elected lawmakers — three opposition and one PSUV — who were blocked from taking office last week after a legal challenge by the Socialists to the Supreme Court, which was flooded by 13 new PSUV-allied judges back in December.

The MUD has vowed that the lawmakers will take their seats today nonetheless. Their attendance is important, as they guarantee the opposition a two-thirds “supermajority” in the chamber, which gives them additional powers.

The country’s Supreme Court also agreed last week to hear challenges against the election of another six opposition deputies.

National Assembly TV station hit by layoffs

News also filtered through at press time that the National Assembly’s television channel (ANTV) has been hit by layoffs and redundancies, in what critics said was an attempt to silence the opposition.

“We do not have access to our workplace, without any explanation. Also, we are being called, everyone, to be made redundant. The channel is being liquidated in an arbitrary and illegal manner,” journalist Betzaida Amaro told Venezuelan channel Globovisión.

Surrounded by other employees of the station, Amaro said antennas installed inside the chamber had been torn down and cameras switched off, which would impose “greatly diminished conditions” and hinder the journalists’ attempt to cover the swearing-in of the new lawmakers today.

The channel last night was no longer on air, instead relaying the same coverage that appeared on the state television channel, VTV.

Ramos elected speaker

Capping a fiery few days, MUD lawmakers voted late Sunday night in a secret ballot to chose Ramos to lead the opposition in the National Assembly.

Ramos, 72, is the secretary general of the Democratic Action (AD) party and is seen by critics as representing the old guard of Venezuelan politics that Hugo Chávez successfully rallied against when he was elected to the presidency in 1998.

Yet, supporters say Ramos is a skilled and by far the most experienced politician in the ring.

“We represent an alternative ... we are not going to be the anti-establishment, but rather an autonomous legislative power,” said Ramos, a lawyer, who won the election with 62 of the 111 votes cast.

The secret ballot took place a month after the opposition trounced the ruling Socialist Party in legislative elections, giving the opposition 112 seats — a two-thirds majority — in the 167-seat National Assembly.

Though the new Congress is likely to get off to a conflictive start today when it formally chooses the body’s president, the opposition is defiant.

“The people chose 112 and 112 will be sworn in,” Jesús Torrealba, the MUD’s secretary general, said at a press conference on Saturday, referring to the three potential lawmakers the coalition may lose.

Split factions

His biggest headache since taking over as secretary of the opposition coalition in late 2014 has been holding various factions together. Infighting came to the fore in recent weeks with major opposition leaders publicly criticizing each other.

Julio Borges was Ramos’ main contender in Sunday’s vote. The 46-year-old leads the Justice First (PJ) party, led by two-time presidential hopeful Henrique Capriles. The party won the largest number of seats among the opposition in December.

However, Ramos united smaller opposition factions that feared dominance by Justice First, analysts said.

President Maduro has already said he would veto one of the opposition’s major planks, the release of imprisoned politicians, and told the opposition in December to “suck on your change.”

Ramos, speaking to Globovisión yesterday, confirmed that the MUD’s “priority” is an amnesty law for about 80 imprisoned dissidents, including hardline opposition leader Leopoldo López and former mayor Antonio Ledesma, releasing them from power.

Maduro has said repeatedly he will not sign such a bill into law.

Herald with agencies