Venezuela opposition challenges president with strike

Venezuela’s opposition sought to pressure President Nicolas Maduro on Friday with a strike, which he threatened to break with army takeovers of paralyzed firms.
The strike risks exacerbating the shortages of food and goods gripping the country, but it seemed to be only partially observed on Friday morning.
In the capital Caracas and cities such as Maracaibo and San Cristobal, the streets were quieter than normal but public transport was running and banks and schools opened as usual.
The action, scheduled for 12 hours from 1000 GMT, was called by the opposition to protest authorities’ decision to block a referendum on removing Maduro from power.
The move followed scuffles and clashes in recent days between riot police and pro- and anti-government protesters around the country.
In a statement, the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) had called for “a citizens’ strike for the people: to leave streets and workplaces empty… to pressure the government to obey the constitution and respect our right to choose.”
The center-right coalition’s latest move to pressure the unpopular leftist leader came after anti-government protests drew hundreds of thousands of people on Wednesday.
Maduro vowed to respond forcefully.
“If a company stops, it will be taken over,” he said Thursday in a televised speech.
He also extended a carrot to the struggling workers who have served as his socialist party’s traditional base: a 40 percent increase in the minimum wage, to the equivalent of about $140 a month.
But economic analysts called that a drop in the bucket for a country the International Monetary Fund says is facing inflation of 475 percent this year, rising to 1,660 percent next year.
And a wage hike may only add fuel to the inflationary fire.
Although Venezuela boasts the world’s largest oil reserves, falling crude prices have plunged the country into an economic crisis.
Maduro calls the crisis a capitalist conspiracy. The opposition blames his economic policies.
The recession has spawned a messy political crisis. The opposition won a majority in the National Assembly last December.
That forced the president to share power with an opposition legislature for the first time since Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, the late socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez, came to power in 1999.
Maduro accuses the National Assembly of staging a “parliamentary coup” by voting to put him on trial for alleged breach of duty.
The opposition says it is Maduro who is staging a coup d’etat by blocking a referendum.
Fears of violent unrest are mounting in the country, where rioting at anti-government protests killed 43 people in 2014.
The opposition has vowed to march next week on the presidential palace, the scene of a short-lived but deadly opposition coup attempt against Chavez in 2002.
Army chief Vladimir Padrino has declared loyalty to Maduro, vowing to defend the socialist government “with (his) life.”
The army will inspect some 700 companies Friday to see whether they observe the strike, Maduro said.
He wants to address the crisis in a “national dialogue” with opponents from Sunday, a plan he says is backed by Pope Francis.
The MUD said it would agree to talks only if the government respects the constitutional right to a referendum and frees imprisoned activists and leaders, among other demands.