CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced on Monday a national vote to create a new "constituent" National Assembly legislature in order to defuse a bitter political conflict after a month of anti-government protests.

Opponents say the move is another attempt to sideline the current opposition-led National Assembly and keep the unpopular Maduro in power in the midst of a bruising recession and unrest that has led to 29 deaths in the last month. </s> CARACAS, Venezuela (WASHINGTON POST) - Venezuela's new pro-government Constituent Assembly formally moved on Friday (Aug 18) to assume the powers of the opposition-dominated congress, completing what critics call a power grab that effectively puts all branches of government under the control of President Nicolas Maduro.

The Constituent Assembly, created in a July 30 vote decried as fraud by the opposition and a host of nations, had begun to assume the role of the National Assembly, whose members were democratically elected in 2015.

But in a move likely to spark further international condemnations, the motion on Friday formalised the arrangement. The body was also poised to pass a new law that critics say could be used to punish opposition leaders and anti-government protesters with up to 25 years in prison.

The body had invited National Assembly members to attend Friday's session - an invitation that was declined.

Before the vote to assume their powers, the Constituent Assembly's president, Delcy Rodriguez - a top Maduro ally - theatrically pointed to the empty seats reserved for them.

"When they're called for national dialogue, cameras please, see? Empty seats. There's the definition of the Venezuelan right."

The opposition, which does not recognise the Constituent Assembly, rejected the move.

"All they want to do is keep stealing!" tweeted opposition legislator Juan Andres Mejia. "The world and Venezuelans have said it very clear. We DON'T recognise the fraudulent constituent national assembly."

Opposition leaders decried the vote as an attempt to finally "close" down congress.

Luis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organisation of American States, blasted the government, tweeting: "Fraudulent dissolution of the National Assembly by the Constituent Assembly deepens the coup d'etat in Venezuela."

But Diosdado Cabello, a senior member of Maduro's inner circle, said the decision had stopped short of disbanding congress, and that the Constituent Assembly was simply assuming congressional powers.

"For those raving, the constituent assembly has not eliminated the national assemble," Cabello tweeted. "It is only assuming the functions of those who have placed themselves on the margins of the constitution."

Nevertheless, Venezuela's congress appeared to be left in an even more precarious legal limbo.

The pro-government Supreme Court robbed the congress of its authority in March. Yet even after the new Constituent Assembly began to meet in its legislative palace this month, opposition lawmakers have continued to convene there in a separate chamber. It remained unclear whether opposition leaders could continue that arrangement.

Maduro - the anointed successor of Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013 - has billed the new Constituent Assembly as the cornerstone of his completing Chavez's socialist dream.

The assembly's members - ranging from student leaders to fishermen to top government officials - are being vested with vast powers to change the constitution, and will be used to streamline efforts to funnel more power and authority to local communities.

In practice, however, critics say, it will be used to consolidate Maduro's power and insure more political largesse in poor communities in exchange for their loyalty.

The moves by the Constituent Assembly come amid an escalating crackdown on dissent after four months of anti-government street protests have left more than 100 dead.

The Constituent Assembly moved on Thursday night to strip legislative immunity from German Ferrer, a member of the elected congress. It came as he and his wife, Luisa Ortega Diaz - Venezuela's former chief prosecutor who was removed from office this month - appeared to join a growing number of dissidents fleeing the country.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued an arrest order for Ferrer. Both he and Ortega were previous government loyalists who turned against Maduro amid mounting allegations of human rights abuses and corruption. They had emerged as two of the most vocal and influential government critics.

Nicmer Evans, a political ally of the couple, told The Washington Post that they had left Venezuela.

Colombia's Radio Caracol reported on Friday that the couple had exited via Brazil and had arrived in Mexico, where Ortega was set to hold a conference call with a group of top prosecutors from across Latin America.

Marvelis Cuevas, Ortega's former spokeswoman, said she had "no idea" whether the couple had left the country.

Since the creation of Constituent Assembly last month, three opposition mayors have gone into hiding and two have fled the country, adding to a growing list of dissidents seeking to escape a broadening crackdown.

Addressing the increased targeting of dissenters, opposition lawmakers said in a statement that "Nicolas Maduro needs silence to consummate injustice. Any expression of the people's voice is being criminalised."

The arrest warrant for Ferrer was connected to government charges that had used his wife's former post to extort US$6 million from business executives. Ferrer has strongly denied the charges, describing them as political persecution.

In an interview with The Washington Post this month, Ortega denounced the creation of the new Constituent Assembly - members of which include Maduro's wife and son - as "the birth of a dictatorship."

"We are just a tiny sample of what comes to anyone who dares to oppose the totalitarian way of governing," she said. "I will continue fighting for Venezuelans, for their liberties and rights, until my last breath." </s> Move to exclude political parties from constitution-writing entity seen by opposition parties as bid to sideline them.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has announced the creation of a new popular assembly with the ability to rewrite the constitution, a move that opponents labelled a power grab aimed at defusing anti-government protests.

The opposition has been demanding general elections to try and end the socialists' 18-year rule.

"I don't want a civil war," Maduro told a large May Day rally of supporters in Caracas business hub, while elsewhere across the city security forces fired tear gas at youth hurling stones and petrol bombs after opposition marches were blocked.

Maduro has triggered an article of the constitution that creates a super-body known as a "constituent assembly".

It can dissolve public powers and call general elections, echoing a previous assembly created by his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, in 1999 soon after he won office.

"I convoke the original constituent power to achieve the peace needed by the Republic, defeat the fascist coup, and let the sovereign people impose peace, harmony and true national dialogue," Maduro told red-shirted supporters.

The new constitution-writing entity would be "a citizen's constituent body, not from political parties - a people's constituent body," he said, adding that the National Electoral Council would start work on the process on Tuesday.

Only half of the 500-member assembly, or less, would be elected, he said.

Opponents fear Maduro would stuff the assembly with supporters and manipulate the elected seats by giving extra weight to pro-government workers and unions.

They said it was another attempt to sideline the current opposition-led National Assembly and potentially avoid elections amid a bruising recession and protests that have led to 29 deaths in the last month.

Julio Borges, National Assembly president, on Monday evening called on Venezuelans to rebel.

"This is a scam to deceive the Venezuelan people with a mechanism that is nothing more than a coup," Borges said, urging Venezuelans to block streets early on Tuesday and hold another march on Wednesday.

On Monday night, opposition supporters banged on empty pots and pans from their windows in a traditional Latin American form of protest.

"People, into the streets! You must disobey such lunacy!" opposition leader Henrique Capriles said on Twitter.

Since anti-Maduro unrest began in early April, more than 400 people have been injured and hundreds more arrested.

READ MORE: Venezuela's crisis explained from the beginning

While Maduro alleges a US-backed coup plot, opponents say he has wrecked the economy and become a tyrant.

Earlier on Monday riot police officers clashed with hundreds of protesters, some throwing stones, who tried to break through security barriers to the electoral council headquarters.

National Guard troops shot tear gas in a district of west Caracas towards hundreds of opposition protesters who were gathering to march.

Elsewhere, the National Guard blocked marchers pouring towards a major highway in front of the Avila mountain which towers over Caracas' northern edge.

Opposition supporters cheered as youth ran to the front, carrying makeshift shields made from rubbish bin lids, wood and even a satellite dish.

Some, wearing motorbike helmets, swimming goggles or bandanas over their mouths, threw stones and petrol bombs at the security line, with a protester yelling, "No one turn back!"

Others blocked roads in Caracas' wealthier Chacao area with branches and fences. </s> Venezuela's newly-elected Constituent Assembly has been inaugurated amid mass public demonstrations. President Maduro, however, says that the assembly is aimed at restoring peace and order in the country.with former Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez elected as the legislative body's president, and former Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz elected as first vice president. "This national constituent assembly, convened by President Nicolas Maduro, is hereby formally inaugurated," Rodriguez said at the inauguration, also praising the late President Hugo Chavez, who she referred to as "our eternal commander," as cited by RTE News.and described the inauguration day as "magnificent," AFP reports. "I want to thank Maduro for having stirred the wise powers of the Venezuelan people," Rodriguez said The new assembly is seated in an ornate oval chamber under a golden dome in the 145-year-old Legislative Palace, the same building where the opposition-dominated National Assembly is located, though in a different room.The Constituent Assembly will meet again on Saturday, andshe said, as quoted by AP.Meanwhile, police in the capital have deployed tear gas and rubber bullets in clashes with opposition supporters. The demonstrations, often violent, have been going on for months. The opposition boycotted the Constituent Assembly election, holding instead a symbolic vote in mid-July, in which over 7 million people rejected the move. The government did not recognize the vote.The Constituent Assembly will have the power to change the country's 1999 constitution. Henrique Capriles, an opposition leader, said that "the government wants to sell the constituent assembly as a solution to the problems. But it's only aggravating them."A stringer on the ground, Carlos Camacho, described to RT the state of things in Venezuela. He thinks that the protests will take a long time to die down, because the stand-off is too strong at the moment.The opposition hasn't renounced the demonstration, but maintains that153 people have been killed since demonstrations started in late March. I see that the situation is continuing, or maybe even getting worse. I don't see it die down anytime soon. Both sides are entrenched."Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro slammed the US for its attempt to disrupt the Venezuelan economy with sanctions, which the president described as an "indirect blockade" in an interview with RT. "As a president, I appeal to him, to President Donald Trump: Stop aggression towards Venezuela. Venezuela is a fundamental basis of stability in the whole Caribbean Basin," Maduro said </s> The Lima Group has called on Maduro "not to assume presidency on January 10… and to temporarily transfer the executive power to the National Assembly until a new, democratic presidential poll is held."

The nations reiterated their full support of the Venezuelan legislature, elected in 2015, and rejected as illegal last May’s vote that saw Maduro re-elected for a second six-year term.

Reacting to media reports that US State Secretary Mike Pompeo took part in the meeting via teleconference, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza slammed the 14-member group for taking orders from US President Donald Trump.

READ MORE: Lima Group Decides to Offer Asylum to Venezuelan Officials — Reports </s> CARACAS, Venezuela, Friday August 4, 2017 – A new controversial Constituent Assembly has been installed in Venezuela, amid Opposition forces rallying thousands to hit the streets in protest.

The 545-member body, elected in marred elections last Sunday, is headed by former foreign minister Delcy Rodríguez who was sworn in as President of the assembly today.

The Constituent Assembly has the power to rewrite the constitution and dissolve state institutions, and will be seated in a chamber of the Legislative Palace in Caracas, where the Opposition-controlled Parliament normally convenes.

It is also reportedly made up of President Nicolas Maduro’s staunchest supporters, including his wife and son.

The new assembly has been strongly condemned by local Opposition forces who said it is nothing more than an attempt by the Maduro administration to grab power.

International countries and organizations, including the European Union, some Latin American countries and the United States, have also frowned on the body, saying they won’t recognize it.

Earlier today, Pope Francis urged President Maduro to suspend the Constituent Assembly which he says is fuelling “a climate of tension” rather than reconciliation and peace.

However, Maduro has seemingly rejected the call.

In response, the Opposition has pulled out government critics to march in the capital, heightening the probability of violent clashes between protesters and security forces.

Over the last four months, Caracas has been rocked by violent protests which have resulted in the deaths of 125 people, and more than 5,000 people have been detained by security forces. </s> CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan security forces prevented opposition lawmakers from entering the parliament building for a session on Tuesday, a week after the top court stripped several lawmakers of their immunity amid a political crisis in the South American country.

Members of the Sebin intelligence service, wearing masks and carrying long guns, together with members of the national police and the military blocked the entrance and were investigating the possible presence of an explosive device inside the National Assembly building, lawmakers said.

Last week, one opposition lawmaker was arrested and several took refuge in foreign embassies in Caracas or fled the country as President Nicolas Maduro cracked down on allies of opposition leader Juan Guaido, following a failed effort to convince members of the military to rise up against Maduro in late April.

Guaido, the leader of the opposition-controlled Assembly, in January invoked Venezuela’s constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate. More than 50 countries have recognised him as the country’s rightful leader, and say the assembly is its last remaining democratic institution.

“This is all part of a show to prevent the National Assembly from functioning,” lawmaker Juan Pablo Guanipa told Reuters. “This is a dictatorship that goes after dissidents, and we are fighting for a political change.”

Venezuela’s information ministry, which handles media inquiries on behalf of the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Maduro, a socialist, calls Guaido a puppet of the United States seeking to oust him in a coup.

The government stripped the assembly of most of its powers after the opposition won a majority in 2015 elections. Lawmakers loyal to Maduro generally do not attend the sessions, but go to meetings of the constituent assembly, a legislative “superbody” created in 2017 that meets in the same building on Wednesdays.

The “superbody” is an all-powerful legislature controlled by the ruling Socialist Party and whose powers supersede those of the National Assembly.

Tuesday’s session was scheduled for 10 a.m. (1400 GMT), but never began. The lawmakers were set to discuss the Supreme Court’s stripping of several of their colleagues’ parliamentary immunity and the arrest of Edgar Zambrano, the Assembly’s vice president and an outspoken critic of Maduro.

Opposition lawmaker Jorge Millan told reporters the report of “bombs” in the building was false.

“It is a trick to prevent the parliament from functioning today,” he said. “If we do not have a session today, we will do it tomorrow.”

(Reporting by Mayela Armas and Corina Pons; Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by Phil Berlowitz) </s> Vice President Mike Pence plans to call Monday on Venezuela to suspend its presidential election later this month because of corruption concerns, two people familiar with the matter said.

The U.S. joins the European Union in calling on Venezuela to postpone the May 20 election until there are better assurances that it will be a free and fair democratic contest. President Nicolas Maduro is seeking a second six-year term, and opposition lawmakers have said security forces have physically threatened them and their supporters.

Pence will make the statement when he addresses more than two dozen ambassadors in a speech at the Organization of American States, according to the people who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Elections in Venezuela are traditionally held in December, but the country’s National Electoral Council scheduled the contest for spring -- a move critics say aims to take advantage of divisions within the opposition. The U.S. State Department has said not all political parties have agreed to the elections, limiting the ability of individuals to run.

The U.S. continues to weigh whether to ban imports of Venezuelan oil, which accounts for 95 percent of the country’s foreign-currency earnings. Venezuela, a founding member of OPEC, has the world’s largest proven reserves and is South America’s largest oil exporter. It is the third-largest source of U.S. imported oil. </s> OSLO, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition are continuing talks in Barbados to try to find ways to resolve the Latin American country's political crisis, the Foreign Ministry of mediator Norway said on Friday.

Friday's statement, the first in three weeks, came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was considering a quarantine or blockade of Venezuela and ahead of a summit in Peru on the Venezuelan crisis, which U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will attend.

"he representatives of the main political actors in Venezuela are continuing the negotiations. ... he parties have reiterated their willingness to advance in the search for an agreed-upon and constitutional solution," Norway's Foreign Ministry said.

The opposition's main negotiator, Stalin Gonzalez, thanked the government of Norway in a tweet shortly after the ministry's statement, ratifying his party's proposal for a constitutional solution.

Juan Guaido, leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, invoked the constitution in January to assume a rival interim presidency after declaring Maduro's 2018 re-election a fraud. Maduro calls Guaido a puppet of the United States and blames Venezuela's severe economic problems on U.S. sanctions meant to force him from office. (Reporting by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos Additional reporting by Sarah Kinosian Editing by Leslie Adler)
Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro supports a proposal by the 2017 Constituent National Assembly to hold early legislative elections, which is seen as an attempt to eliminate the threat posed by the opposition-controlled National Assembly. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence tells a Florida rally that the time for dialogue "had ended" and "all options were on the table."