Venezuela crisis: What is behind
the turmoil? 5/4/17, BBC News
Why is Venezuela so divided? - Venezuela is split into Chavistas, the name given to the followers of the socialist policies of the late President Hugo Chavez, and those who cannot wait to see an end to the 18 years in power of his United Socialist Party (PSUV).
If the divisions are old, what has triggered this latest flare-up?
What does the opposition want?
There has been a wave of
anti-government protests and dozens of people have been killed in
protest-related violence since April
Here, we look more in
depth at the problems facing Venezuela and its president, Nicolas Maduro.
After the socialist leader
died in 2013, Nicolas Maduro, also of the PSUV, was elected president on a
promise to continue Mr Chavez's policies.
Chavistas praise the two
men for using Venezuela's oil riches to markedly reduce inequality and for
lifting many Venezuelans out of poverty.
But the opposition says
that since the PSUV came to power in 1999, the socialist party has eroded
Venezuela's democratic institutions and mismanaged its economy.
Chavistas in turn accuse
the opposition of being elitist and of exploiting poor Venezuelans to increase
their own riches.
They also allege that
opposition leaders are in the pay of the United States, a country with which
Venezuela has had fraught relations in recent years.
Why has Mr Maduro's popularity plummeted?
Mr Maduro has not been
able to inspire Chavistas in the same way his predecessor did. His government
has furthermore been hampered by falling oil prices.
Oil accounts for about 95% of
Venezuela's export revenues and was used to finance some of the government's
generous social programs which, according to official figures, have provided
more than one million poor Venezuelans with homes.
The lack of oil revenue has
forced the government to curtail its social programs, leading to an erosion of
support among its core backers.
Court
ruling stripped the National Assembly of its powers
A series of events has
further heightened tensions between the government and the opposition and led
to renewed street protests.
Key was the surprise
announcement by the Supreme Court on 29 March that it was taking over the powers of
the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
The opposition said that
the ruling undermined the country's separation of powers and took Venezuela a
step closer to one-man rule under President Nicolas Maduro.
The court argued that the
National Assembly had disregarded previous Supreme Court rulings and was
therefore in contempt.
While the
Supreme Court reversed its ruling just three days later, distrust of the court did not
subside.
-government
protesters have been calling for fresh general
They have four key
demands:
§
Removal from office of the Supreme Court justices who issued the
29 March ruling
§
General elections in 2017
§
Creation of a "humanitarian channel" to allow
medication to be imported to counter the severe shortages in Venezuela
§
Release of all the "political prisoners"
Why is there talk of a constituent assembly? Faced with almost daily protests, President Maduro probably felt
he needed to make a move. Not willing to give in to the opposition's demand for
early presidential elections, he chose to announce the creation of a
constituent assembly.
President Maduro says the
opposition is trying to illegally overthrow his elected government and blames
the country's problems on an "economic war" being waged against him.
He argues that a new
constitution will "neutralize" the opposition and defeat
"coup-plotters" and thereby promote peace in Venezuela.
Opposition leaders have
denounced the move as an attempt by President Maduro to maximize his power and
cling on to it for longer.
They argue that the
process of setting up a constituent assembly and drawing up a new constitution
would almost certainly mean that regional elections due to be held this year
and presidential polls scheduled for December 2018 would be delayed.
They also fear that the
constituent assembly would further weaken the National Assembly, Venezuela's
opposition-controlled legislative body.
National Assembly leader
Julio Borges called it "a scam to deceive the Venezuelan people with a
mechanism that is nothing more than a tightening of the coup in
Venezuela".
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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