Opposition marches in Venezuela to demand movement toward presidential election

Record ID: 165326

  • Title: Opposition marches in Venezuela to demand movement toward presidential election
  • Date: 23rd January 2017
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (JANUARY 23, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS GATHERED FOR OPPOSITION MARCH PROTESTERS WITH HUGE VENEZUELAN FLAG DURING MARCH MARCHERS SHOUTING: "YES WE CAN, YES WE CAN" VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING PROTESTER DRESSED AS A SKELETON WEARING SIGN READING: "WE VENEZUELANS ARE DYING FROM HUNGER. THERE IS NO FOOD. THERE IS NO MEDICINE" SIGN READING: "VENEZUELA IS IN AGONY" PROTESTER WEARING SKULL FACE WITH SIGN READING: "WE VENEZUELANS ARE DYING FROM HUNGER" SIGN READING: "OUT MADURO" VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SHOUTING SLOGANS (UNINTELLIGIBLE) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PROTESTER, JOSE CARIBA, SAYING: "What do they want? A war between Venezuelans? That is why I call on Maduro - understand that we are Venezuelans, you have fulfilled your final phase because the people don't want you." PROTESTERS DRESSED AS SKELETONS WITH SIGN READING: "ENOUGH OF THE VIOLENCE" SIGN READING: "ENOUGH OF THE VIOLENCE" (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) OPPOSITION LEADER, HENRIQUE CAPRILES, SAYING: "Today in Venezuela, there has been no call for an electoral process. There is no election on the calendar and today we are coming out in all the capitals of the country demanding elections, elections of governors which should have been held in December and weren't held. There was no recall, they stole the recall from us. These people have stolen our democracy and are depending on some 30 million Venezuelans to rescue them so that we can live in democracy." VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS SHOUTING "YES WE CAN, YES WE CAN" (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PROTESTER, NUVIA FEBRES, SAYING: "We Venezuelans want peace, peace with supplies, peace with medicine, peace with food, that we put food on all the supply shelves." GENERAL VIEW OF PROTESTERS GATHERED BANNER READING: "ELECTIONS NOW" PROTESTER HOLDING VENEZUELAN FLAG VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS GATHERED PROTESTER WAVING OPPOSITION FLAG
  • Embargoed: 6th February 2017 17:51
  • Keywords: Nicolas Maduro presidential election Marcos Perez Jimenez
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00160AYV5V
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Venezuelan opposition protesters launched a new push on Monday (January 23) to force President Nicolas Maduro from power and end 18 years of socialist rule.
    Turnout for the opposition's first rallies of 2017 was not massive, reflecting disillusionment over last year's failure to bring about a referendum to recall the 54-year-old leader and successor to Hugo Chavez.
    But those who did march in a string of rallies around the country turned creative in their complaints about the South American OPEC nation's unprecedented economic crisis.
    In the politically volatile western state of Tachira, long a hotbed of anti-Maduro sentiment, some demonstrators proffered flour - an increasingly scarce and expensive commodity during the nation's three-year recession - to police, witnesses said.
    In Caracas, where several thousand opposition supporters marched, some threw empty medicine cartons on the floor to symbolize shortages afflicting the health sector.
    With many of Venezuela's 30 million people skipping meals, unable to pay soaring prices for basic goods and facing long lines for scarce subsidized products, Maduro, who won a 2013 election to succeed Chavez, has become deeply unpopular.
    "What do they want? A war between Venezuelans? That is why I call on Maduro - understand that we are Venezuelans, you have fulfilled your final phase because the people don't want you," said protester Jorge Cariba.
    Polls showed a majority of Venezuelans wanted a referendum last year which could have brought his rule to an early end and sparked a presidential vote. But compliant courts and election authorities thwarted the move, alleging fraud in signature collections.
    "Today in Venezuela, there has been no call for an electoral process. There is no election on the calendar and today we are coming out in all the capitals of the country demanding elections, elections of governors which should have been held in December and weren't held. There was no recall, they stole the recall from us. These people have stolen our democracy and are depending on some 30 million Venezuelans to rescue them so that we can live in democracy," said opposition leader Henrique Capriles.
    The opposition Democratic Unity coalition is demanding dates for regional elections that are supposed to happen this year, and also urging Maduro to hold a new presidential ballot.
    Maduro's six-year term is due to end in early 2019.
    Red-shirted government supporters, who accuse the opposition of seeking a coup with U.S. connivance, were also marching on Monday, a politically significant day for Venezuelans: the anniversary of the 1958 fall of dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez.
    They gathered at the National Pantheon building to honor leftist guerrilla Fabricio Ojeda, who was murdered in 1966.
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