Venezuela lawmakers vote for political trial of president

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
(C), who is resisting efforts by the
opposition to remove him from power
in a volatile political crisis, gestures at
supporters in Caracas on October 25,
2016. The opposition is planning
nationwide street protests for
Wednesday, the day it was to have
begun collecting the four million
signatures needed to trigger a recall
referendum against Maduro but which
electoral authorities blocked last week.
Ronaldo SCHEMIDT / AFP
Venezuela’s opposition-majority
legislature voted on Tuesday to open a
political trial against President Nicolas
Maduro, who is resisting efforts to
remove him from power in a volatile
political crisis.
A majority of lawmakers in the
National Assembly voted in favor of a
motion to launch a “political and
criminal trial” against Maduro after
he blocked their drive for a
referendum on removing him.
They voted to summon Maduro to
appear before the assembly on
November 1 to answer charges of
“criminal and political responsibility
and of abandoning his post.”
It is unclear what impact the vote will
have. The Supreme Court — which the
opposition claims Maduro controls —
has ruled the National Assembly’s
decisions invalid.
The center right-dominated opposition
blames Maduro for a dire economic
crisis in the oil-rich nation.
Hit by the fall of global oil prices,
Venezuela’s economy has crashed,
sparking protests and looting driven
by shortages of food, medicine and
basic goods.
Maduro calls the economic crisis a
capitalist conspiracy.
The opposition called for the political
trial after courts and electoral
authorities last week annulled their
bid to hold a recall referendum
against him.
Maduro met with Pope Francis at the
Vatican on Monday and said
afterward that he had the pope’s
blessing to launch a “dialogue” with
the opposition.
Leaders of the opposition Democratic
Unity Roundtable (MUD) dismissed
that as a ploy, insisting they had not
agreed on terms for talks with the
government.
The MUD has called for nationwide
street protests from Wednesday to
raise pressure on Maduro.
The president landed back in
Venezuela on Tuesday after a tour to
the Middle East, the Vatican and
Portugal, television pictures showed.
He was expected to join his supporters
in a rally in Caracas on Tuesday.
Analysts have warned there is a risk of
violent unrest in the South American
country of 30 million people.
Clashes at anti-government protests in
2014 left 43 people dead.