- Title: Venezuelan assembly breaks down over Maduro hearings
- Date: 25th October 2016
- Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (OCTOBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** GENERAL OF VENEZUELA'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY IN SESSION PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, HENRY RAMOS ALLUP, SAYING: "Respond, (Defence) minister (Vladimir Padrino Lopez), you who only has words to defend government that is falling because it is undignified and because it doesn't know how to run the republic. Stop with the threats. Stop with the (inaudible). Stop using your position of power to threaten the civil power. Open the barracks and let us in so we can speak to the troops with the lower ranking officials. Mr. Minister, you have an armed force that nobody wants, nobody is afraid of and nobody respects. This is what you've achieved as defence minister. We here are going to vote on the bill presented by deputy (Juan Miguel) Matheus and we are going to pass it because it is our duty and is part of our exclusive powers. And if you want, you can present other bills in the assembly like what you did last Sunday (October 23). I am not at all surprised that you all don't believe in the popular vote and that you think that by destroying the institutions that bother you are becoming more powerful. With these kinds of bad acts you are digging your grave deeper every day and you will never get out of it." RAMOS TAKING HIS SEAT AND GIVING THE FLOOR TO RULING PARTY LAWMAKER, HECTOR RODRIGUEZ (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RULING PARTY LAWMAKER, HECTOR RODRIGUEZ, SAYING: "[OFF CAMERA] Good afternoon. Deputy Ramos Allup, you speak with a bit of a loud voice, but with all due respect, I don't think you have the strength or the balls to carry out what you said. I speak in the name of all of the Bolivarian soldiers, in the name of an armed forces, in the name of patriotic soldiers, and demand the respect of the Bolivarian national armed forces." LAWMAKERS SPILLING ONTO THE FLOOR, SOME PUSHING EACH OTHER, AS RODRIGUEZ, WEARING A RED JACKET, FINISHES HIS REMARKS
- Embargoed: 9th November 2016 17:59
- Keywords: Venezuela National Assembly hearing Nicolas Maduro Henry Ramos
- Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
- City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
- Country: Venezuela
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00155I97IF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Venezuelan lawmakers spilled onto the floor of the National Assembly and got into shoving matches on Tuesday (October 25) during a heated debate that ended with a vote to open a political trial against President Nicolas Maduro for violating democracy.
Opposing sides scuffled with heavy pushing on the assembly floor shortly after the President of the National Assembly Henry Ramos Allup lashed out at Venezuela's Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino who earlier had criticized congress, vowed the armed forces' loyalty to Maduro, and accused foes of seeking a foreign intervention.
"Respond, (Defence) minister (Vladimir Padrino Lopez), you who only has words to defend government that is falling because it is undignified and because it doesn't know how to run the republic. Stop with the threats. Stop with the (inaudible). Stop using your position of power to threaten the civil power. Open the barracks and let us in so we can speak to the troops with the lower ranking officials. Mr. Minister, you have an armed force that nobody wants, nobody is afraid of and nobody respects. This is what you've achieved as defence minister. We here are going to vote on the bill presented by deputy (Juan Miguel) Matheus and we are going to pass it because it is our duty and is part of our exclusive powers. And if you want, you can present other bills in the assembly like what you did last Sunday (October 23). I am not at all surprised that you all don't believe in the popular vote and that you think that by destroying the institutions that bother you are becoming more powerful. With these kinds of bad acts you are digging your grave deeper every day and you will never get out of it," Ramos said.
Ramos then yielded the floor to deputy Hector Rodriguez of the ruling party who railed on Ramos for disrespecting the armed forces.
"[OFF CAMERA] Good afternoon. Deputy Ramos Allup, you speak with a bit of a loud voice, but with all due respect, I don't think you have the strength or the balls to carry out what you said. I speak in the name of all of the Bolivarian soldiers, in the name of an armed forces, in the name of patriotic soldiers, and demand the respect of the Bolivarian national armed forces," Rodriguez said.
Before Rodriguez could even finish his comments, lawmakers from both sides began spilling onto the floor.
The scuffles on the floor lasted several minutes with some opposition lawmakers getting into shoving and shouting matches with lawmakers loyal to Maduro.
The opposition has accused Maduro of veering into dictatorship by sidelining the legislature, detaining opponents and leaning on compliant judicial and electoral authorities to block the plebiscite they had been campaigning for.
The National Assembly ordered Maduro to appear at a session next Tuesday - which he will almost certainly refuse to do - and said it would also consider charges of abandoning his post.
Foes accuse Maduro of wrecking the OPEC nation's economy, where food shortages and soaring prices have left many skipping meals and spending hours in long lines.
Noting recent shifts to the right in other Latin American countries, Venezuela's government has said it is the victim of an international conspiracy against socialism led by the United States and fanned by servile foreign media.
It blames a long, steep slump in global oil prices and a U.S.-fostered "economic war" for Venezuelans' suffering. It has also accused political foes of seeking a violent coup against Maduro, the former bus driver and union activist who became Chavez's long-serving foreign minister then vice-president.
Maduro came back to Venezuela later on Tuesday after a tour of oil-producing nations and meetings with the Pope and U.N. Secretary General-designate Antonio Guterres. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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