Free Republic

So, instead of writing about substantial things like the fraud constituent assembly deciding it will be in office for the next two years, taking as its first "measure" the removal from office of the general prosecutor Luisa Ortega and announcing that next week they will set up the inquisition truth commission I have to discuss what was either a failed coup or a stunt show........ What happened this morning in Venezuela was suspicious from the start..... It is 1PM+, 5 hours later and it smells fishier, too convenient for the regime......

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans appeared to be abstaining in massive numbers on Sunday in a show of silent protest against a vote to select a constitutional assembly giving the government virtually unlimited powers. Associated Press journalists toured more than two dozen polling places in neighborhoods across the capital, including many traditional strongholds of the ruling socialist party in southern and western Caracas. Virtually all the polling places saw hours-long lines of thousands of people in past elections over the last two decades of socialist government.

Venezuela's opposition controlled National Assembly has appointed 33 judges to the Supreme Court, prompting accusations of an attempted power grab. The assembly says it has the right to name and fire justices under the country's constitution. But the court, which largely made up of pro-government members, has described the move as illegal......

ESCALATED STREET PROTESTS AND 24-HOUR STRIKE ORGANIZED IN WEEKS LEADING UP TO ELECTION OF ASSEMBLY TO REWWRITE CONSTITUTION AFTER 7.1M PEOPLE REJECTED PROPOSAL. Venezuelan opposition leaders have called for their supporters to escalate street protests and support a 24-hour national strike later this week after more than 7.1 million people rejected a government plan to rewrite the constitution. "It is time for zero hour," said Freddy Guevara, a leading opposition figure on Monday. "We call on the whole country this to join massively and peacefully a national civic strike of 24 hours on Thursday as a mechanism of pressure and...

Last night I was writing that with a 5 million votes the opposition in Venezuela would have scored a magnificent success. It will be more than 7 which is an absolute trashing of the regime......

At least one person has been shot dead while waiting to vote in an unofficial, opposition-organized referendum in Venezuela. Men on motorbikes killed a woman and wounded three others in Caracas. One news agency, Reuters, is reporting two people died. Video from the scene showed people rushing away from the gunshots. Many fled to a church. Venezuela is in crisis and more than 100 people have died in political clashes since April......

So this is the situation. You have on one side the bad guys who hold all the firepower and are increasingly more willing to use it......

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA--Venezuelans head to the polls Sunday in a tense vote that the opposition hopes will mark a watershed--and the government insists means nothing. The weekend plebiscite will ask voters if they support the government's plan to elect and unpopular National Constituent Assembly that will overhaul the 1999 constitution. Critics, including some inside ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, fear that President Nicolas Maduro will use the new entity to tighten his hold on the South American country and further delay-or outright cancel--elections. "The Constituent Assembly is a fraud, because it doesn't resolve any of the problems that Venezuelans are...

Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has been moved to house arrest after more than three years in jail. He left a prison near Caracas at dawn and was reunited with his family..... Hours after being freed, Lopez urged supporters to continue protesting against President Nicolas Maduro....

About 100 government supporters burst into Venezuela's opposition controlled National Assembly, where they beat up several lawmakers. Witnesses said the confrontation came after an assembly session to mark the country's Independence Day. Military police guarding the side stood by as intruders brandishing sticks and pipes broke through the gate..... Venezuelan newspaper Tal Cual blamed the attack on militias known as "colectivos", and said the group fired rockets and bangers as they forced their way in. Its report said some of the deputies attacked "fell to the ground and were kicked"........

Venezuela's pro-government Supreme Court heard a petition on Tuesday to remove dissident state prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who was expecting the ax after alleging rights abuses and erosion of democracy under President Nicolas Maduro. Ortega, the main challenger to Maduro from within the ruling socialist movement during three months of opposition protests, said she would not recognize legal proceedings against her by an "unconstitutional and illegitimate" Supreme Court...... Protestors across the oil-rich nation of 30 million set up road blockades "against the dictatorship" on Tuesday afternoon...... The opposition wants to ramp up pressure ahead of Maduro's planned vote on July 30...

The opposition MUD is subjected to tremendous challenges, all coming from the fact that they need to face off a criminal-narco-state without any help from the outside police. Why the world is not acting on Veneuela knowing very well that it risks receiving a refugee wave of millions is the subject of another text. Never mind that if the regime manages to hold power at the cost of a dictatorial communist "constitution" and thousands of deaths this will set a bad precedent for regimes dreaming of such a perpetuation of outcome, like Bolivia, the FARC in Colombia, Nicaragua, to name...

Venezuela's Supreme Court has banned the attorney general from leaving the country and frozen all of her assets. The court, which is dominated by government loyalists, said Luisa Ortega Diaz had committed serious errors. Ms. Ortega, once a staunch government ally, broke ranks in March, when she said an attempt by the Supreme Court to strip the opposition-controlled Congress of its powers was unlawful. Critics believe President Nicolas Maduro is trying to push Ms. Ortega out. She faces a hearing on 4 July--some analysts say she may eventually be put on trial. The move comes amid growing political turmoil in...

US Ambassador Nikki Haley has called for international action to address the crisis in Venezuela, after a US-backed proposal for regional mediation failed to win support at the Organization of American States. (The US-backed proposal failed to overcome opposition from the 14 similar national jurisdictions that benefit from turmoil and discounted Venezuelan oil.) "The tragic situation in Venezuela calls out for action. The Venezuelan people are starving while their government tramples their democracy". //Snipp// The Judiciary has sold out and military command is wavering as the country, pummeled by the plunge in oil prices and the Hugo Chávez, legacy of...

It is hard not to be despondent in Venezuela these days. Even if the paradox is that the despondency of some translate into renewed energy. I suppose that when everything has been stolen from you, that is, your future, you may react strongly, if anything to see how many you can bring down with you...... ... last two weeks, as expected, the regime has been cranking up its terror machine. They attack with excess tear gas, excess violence, more and more live bullets, even before the protest marches get the time to coalesce. But that has not been enough to...

Opposition leaders in Venezuela have strongly criticized the investment bank Goldman Sachs for buying $2.8 bn (2.1 bn pounds) of government bonds. Opponents of embattled President Nicolas Maduro say the move has given his government a financial lifeline.... "Goldman Sachs' financial lifeline to the regime will serve to strengthen the brutal repression unleashed against the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans peacefully protesting for political change in the country," said Julio Borges, head of Venezuela's Congress, in a letter to Goldman Sachs president Lloyd Blankfein.......

Roughly one month ago I asked what the end game in Venezuela might look like as the country continues to spiral out of control. Judging by what’s been happening this weekend we may be getting close to an answer to that question. Despite the ramped up “militias” of President Nicolas Maduro and the dozens of people who have died in violent clashes between protesters and militia groups, starving and disaffected citizens continue to take to the streets. In one Venezuelan city, a statue of former dictator Hugo Chavez was torn down and smashed in the streets. (Video via the Daily...

Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have set up roadblocks and staged demonstrations demanding elections as the country's political and economic crisis deepens. They responded with defiance to his call for a new constitution to end unrest that has killed 28 people... The U.S. said it was a bid to cling to power, while Brazil called it a "coup"..... "The constituent assembly that Maduro has announced is a manipulation to escape elections," AFP news agency quoted student Raul Hernandez, 22, as saying. He was among about 100 people blocking a major road in the capital Caracas. Elsewhere, security forces deployed...

..... with the crowds I found these nuns in perfect anti Maduro gear. The crowds, patiently waiting, were already significant...... ... walking all the way uphill to the Cota Mill avenue where we would supposedly turn left to bypass already installed blockades....... I heard a big rumor while I was walking up a hill. By the time I turned back I realized it was a squadron of well, "freedom fighters." The youth of Caracas has learned to fight and to get organized. What you see is the mere tail end of one of those groups that went by me, albeit...

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has ordered a 60% increase in the country's minimum wage, effective from Monday...... The pay rise is the third this year from Mr. Maduro, and aims to benefit government workers and the military. It comes a month after deadly protests erupted in the country...... Even residents of traditionally pro-Maduro districts have been joining the protests. "I have been a month now joining in all the protests because I want my country to be free of this dictatorship," said 42 year-old Yoleida Viloria, a hairdresser from the capital, Caracas. Observers fear 1 May could bring a spike...