Venezuelans stay away from polls to protest government vote

Another protester, a man aged 43, was shot dead in the western city of Barquisimeto, the sixth recorded since late Saturday, added to a death toll of almost 120 over the past four months.

It is not a secret that Venezuela’s democracy has suffered a significant deterioration since Hugo Chávez took power and especially after Maduro – Chávez’s chosen successor – became president after his death.

Families of United States diplomats have been ordered to leave following the imposition of American sanctions on 13 current and former Venezuelan officials.

Ortega considers herself to be a chavist; however, her role in Venezuelan’s politics has given a twist because she says she is against a new constitution.

Streets were desolate early Sunday with barricades in some areas as Venezuelans began voting for a constitutional super-body expected to hand sweeping powers to President Nicolas Maduro. He says the opposition is also to blame. The opposition leader was recently free from prison and transferred to house arrest.

The head of Datanalisis, Luis Vicente Leon, said the Constituent Assembly “wasn’t being formed to solve the country’s problems”, but was instead a political gambit because the uncharismatic Maduro – whose term is meant to finish next year – “can’t win elections”.

Electoral council chief Sandra Oblitas said there were long lines at some polling stations and that people were waiting to exercise their right to vote. “Venezuela didn’t need a change in constitution”.

Chavez installed the nation’s socialist government and died in office in 2013.

In an address on state-run television Saturday, Maduro said he wants the assembly to strip legislators in the opposition-controlled National Assembly of their immunity and see at least one of them jailed – Freddy Guevara, the legislature’s first vice president and one of the highest-profile organizers of protests against the government.

Interior Minister Nestor Reverol announced Thursday that officials were prohibiting any protests through Tuesday.

Lawmaker Jose Manuel Olivares asked Venezuelans “not to be victims of fear”.

He blames the country’s economic malaise – from food and medicine shortages to triple-digit inflation – on an “economic war” by his adversaries.

Venezuelans must have entered Colombia legally on or before July 25 to qualify.

Last week, Colombian airline Avianca halted service to Caracas after 60 years of continuous flight service, leaving thousands of passengers stranded and looking for options to get out.

Unrest in Venezuela, plagued by a political crisis with soaring inflation and daily food shortages, was aggravated in early April after the Supreme Court chose to annul the powers of the opposition-controlled parliament.

The government swore to continue its push for total political dominance of this once-prosperous OPEC nation, a move likely to trigger USA sanctions and new rounds of the street fighting that has killed at least 122 and wounded almost 2,000 since protests began in April.

Still, there were reports of clashes between protesters and the police throughout the country.

Maduro cast a pre-dawn vote on Sunday in the controversial election.

Sunday’s voting took place against a backdrop of a deepening economic collapse and months of street protests against the government that have left over 100 people dead.