Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Venezuela's opposition make noise against Nicolás Maduro's victory

Election loser Henrique Capriles calls off march in favour of pots-and-pans protest as both sides trade accusations

Venezuela's opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, has called off the march he planned to lead to the headquarters of the National Electorate Council to demand a total recount of Sunday's electoral vote which gave Nicolás Maduro, Hugo Chávez's hand-picked successor, a razor-thin margin.

The announcement came after President Maduro banned the opposition march from entering Caracas. He denounced the two-day anti-government street protests as part of a US-led coup attempt reminiscent of the April 2002 coup that saw Chávez ousted from power for two days.

"That march will not enter Caracas. It is my responsibility as president not to allow this march – I am defending them from themselves," Maduro said from the headquarters of the state-run oil company PDVSA. "While we conducted a campaign within the principles established by our constitution, they [the opposition] waged an electric warfare, an economic warfare."

He added: "We have proofs of a US-led plot."

The march was called by Capriles after Maduro was proclaimed president on Monday without the manual recount previously agreed by both candidates. It is to be replaced with nightly cacerolazos, a popular form of protest where pots and pans are banged for hours on end.

Capriles, who accused the government of planning to infiltrate tomorrow's march to generate street violence, had made frequent complaints about unfair conditions during the campaign. His objections included Maduro's use of state resources for campaigning purposes and his unlimited air time in the state-controlled media.

"[The government] are trying to hide the undeniable – people's discontent at all the abuse that's happened," Capriles said. "Our request has not been to change the results. Our petition is to have a vote-by-vote count." He said he would honour the results of a total recount.

Both camps made references to the April 2002 coup where Chávez returned to power after being ousted for two days following a deadly clash between protesters and government forces.

"A group of Venezuela's fascists is trying to subvert the order just like they did on 11 April [2002]," said Diosdado Cabello, the president of the National Assembly, adding that the street marches and nationwide protests were a replay of the "carmonazo", the attempt to establish a transitional government following the coup.

In one of a series of nationwide televised broadcasts, Maduro claimed the opposition had set in motion a US-backed coup against his government which had included boycotting the country's electric system during the 10-day campaign and more recently failing to recognize the elections' results.

Maduro, who was endorsed by Chávez before the former president died of cancer last month, had a 14-point lead at the beginning of the campaign but by the time he won two weeks later this had fallen to a 1.6 margin.

The sharp drop in what many had predicted would be a comfortable victory was seen by analysts as a result of the disillusionment of Chávez supporters dissatisfied with the country's frequent power outages, looming economic crisis, chronic food shortages and soaring crime rate.

As the country seemed set for a major political crisis, Néstor Reverol, the minister of defence, said 12 people armed with mortars seeking to destabilise the country had been detained. Reverol warned that no acts of vandalism would be tolerated.

"We are obliged to exercise the legitimate authority that our laws confer upon us," Reverol said. "We will not allow one millimetre of destabilising efforts."

Capriles reiterated that he had called for peace to be maintained and emphasised that all he wanted was a recount of the votes.

"The country needs calm, and that we know that we can exercise our rights without violence," Capriles said from his party's headquarters. "We are asking that votes be counted one by one. That an audit of this process exists."

The post-election crisis has left seven dead and more than 50 people wounded across the nation as pro and anti-government protestors clashed outside CNE headquarters in different states.

The close margin prompted a call for reflection from leaders on Maduro's side, but Capriles insisted the government "was not reading the results". "They don't have the majority, we have two halves. And this isn't about one half running over the other one, This is about the two halves seeking out a solution so the country can move forward."

But as Maduro addressed the nation, Venezuelans across the nation took to their balconies and rooftops to show their discontent with a clatter of pots and pans.

"The town I live in is tiny and the opposition doesn't have any force. Yet the pots can heard loud and clear," said Marisa Bello from Elorza, a town of 24,000 people in the flatlands of Venezuela.


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Virginia Lopez 17 Apr, 2013


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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/17/venezuela-opposition-protest-maduro-victory
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