Venezuelan opposition floods Caracas in anti-Maduro protest

Maduro is the successor of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president for more than 14 years who died in 2013.

Venezuela’s opposition and government are heading into a crucial test of strength Thursday with massive marches for and against a referendum to recall President Nicolas Maduro that have raised fears of a violent confrontation.

While the CNE is widely recognized as an institution loyal to the government, if the opposition was able to gather far more than the required 3.9 million signatures – or 20 percent of the voting electorate – Maduro would come under enormous pressure from within his own party to step down, said Leopoldo Martinez, a former opposition member of congress in Venezuela and now chairman of the Center for Democracy and Development in the Americas. But Maduro, 53, says they are planning violence and a coup.

Addressing thousands of his supporters at the rally in the capital, Maduro accused the opposition of stirring up trouble as part of a US-backed coup plot.

Caracas political analyst Dimitris Pantoulas said the “warlike” language may have actually energized opponents who otherwise might be on vacation or, at a time of economic crisis, standing in long lines for food.

State television called for supporters of the government to march in an “anti-coup” protest.

“The government made a big mistake by throwing fuel onto the flames”, said Pantoulas.

The leader of the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable, Jesus Torrealba, said it was the “biggest rally in recent decades” with “between 950,000 and 1.1 million people” taking part. They arrived in Caracas on Wednesday for the protest after travelling more than 375 miles (600 kilometers) – by foot, canoe and bus – from the Amazon rainforest. She was referring to someone from her Piaroa tribe who had been jailed for alleged fraud during December’s congressional elections, a case the government used to disqualify three indigenous leaders from taking seats in the opposition-controlled legislature.

Maduro tried to mock his opponents’ show of force, saying they had failed to amass more than 30,000 supporters and joking that he and First Lady Cilia Flores would go the movies at a shopping mall near where they were gathering.

But with the election board dragging out the process and Maduro vowing there will be no such vote in 2016, it is hard to see how the opposition can force it.

If it takes place before January 10 and Maduro loses, new elections must be held. However, if the referendum is put off until after that date, and the Yes vote wins, Maduro’s vice president will serve out the rest of the president’s term. “The fact that the poor barrios won’t be supporting Chavismo is enough to damage the government”.

Meanwhile, the Chavista government can’t block the referendum, but it can stall it. Officials have filed around 9,000 lawsuits across the country for signature fraud to thwart the opposition group’s efforts.

Authorities over the weekend moved a prominent opposition leader, former San Cristobal Mayor Daniel Ceballos, from house arrest back to prison while he awaits trial on civil rebellion charges stemming from the 2014 protests.

“And in due course it will ultimately succeed in having a leader of the opposition be elected president of Venezuela”.

Reverol said this week’s detention of opposition activists Carlos Melo and Yon Goicoechea had led to the capture of arms and explosives in a makeshift camp a few kilometers from the presidential palace. Government workers say they’ve suffered retaliation for signing petitions seeking Maduro’s removal and the opposition-leaning newspaper El Nacional said thugs threw excrement and Molotov cocktails at its building Tuesday.