Venezuelan government supporters march in favor of government-backed Constituent Assembly

Record ID: 905520

  • Title: Venezuelan government supporters march in favor of government-backed Constituent Assembly
  • Date: 7th August 2017
  • Summary: MAN WITH A PHOTOGRAPH OF FORMER PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ AND FAMILY
  • Embargoed: 21st August 2017 20:52
  • Keywords: Venezuela Nicolas Maduro protest opposition Diosdado Cabello Vladimir Padrino
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0046T5RGAV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Supporters of President Nicolas Maduro marched in Caracas on Monday (August 7) in favor of a new legislative superbody. The assembly aims to lock in the "Bolivarian revolution" begun almost 20 years ago by late President Hugo Chavez, Maduro's mentor and predecessor. Maduro has called the assembly Venezuela's only hope of peace but opponents say it will cement dictatorship in the OPEC country.
    About 2,000 people jammed the streets in front of Venezuela's congressional complex, where the constituent assembly will hold its sessions. They chanted in support of the assembly and called for an end to over 4 months of opposition protests and unrest in which more than 120 people have died.
    The assembly has power to rewrite the constitution, re-jig state institutions and could allow the president to rule by decree in the oil-rich but economically-ailing country. The opposition says the assembly is intended to keep Maduro in office despite approval ratings battered by a deep recession and shortages of food and medicine.
    Meanwhile, the Venezuelan Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino, addressed the small uprising staged Sunday (August 6) on Government TV referring to those involved as, "mercenaries paid for from Miami by extreme right-wing groups linked to factors in the Venezuelan opposition, as well as to foreign governments that maintain a hostile and meddling attitude against this country." Those who attacked the army base near the city of Valencia said their "Operation David," in reference to the biblical story of David and Goliath, was aimed at starting an insurgency against unpopular leftist Maduro. But no more assaults appear to have followed and anti-government protests in Valencia were quickly controlled by tear gas.
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