[Breaking news update, published at 2:21 p.m. ET]
Venezuela’s government announced it is banning, starting Friday, all protests ahead of Sunday’s vote for a special assembly.
“It is prohibited throughout all national territory, all public meetings and demonstrations, gatherings and other similar acts that might disturb the electoral process,” Venezuela’s Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace Néstor Reverol said Thursday on state-run VTV.
Sunday’s election — called for by the Maduro government — is for a special assembly that would have powers to rewrite the South American country’s 1999 constitution and dissolve state institutions.
[Original story, published at 9:58 a.m. ET]
Venezuela’s opposition-led general strike entered its second day Thursday as adversaries of President Nicolas Maduro protest his plans to hold a weekend vote that could lead to a rewrite of the country’s constitution.
Opposition leaders called on Venezuelans to stay at home and barricade streets nationwide in protest of Sunday’s election for a special assembly that would have powers to rewrite the South American country’s 1999 constitution and dissolve state institutions.
Maduro critics launched the 48-hour strike Wednesday morning, deploring the possibility that their President could gain more sweeping powers. Their goal: For Maduro to abandon his plans for a new constitution, opposition leaders said at a news conference.
“The call we’ve made for the coming days will require each of you to ask yourselves what role you have to play in Venezuela’s rescue,” said Freddy Guevara, opposition leader and vice president of the National Assembly.
Hours after the national strike gripped the country Wednesday, the US Treasury Department announced it is slapping sanctions against 13 Venezuelan government officials.
“As President Trump has made clear, the United States will not ignore the Maduro regime’s ongoing efforts to undermine democracy, freedom and the rule of law,” US Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement.
Protester Oscar Leandro said demonstrations would continue through Sunday’s election despite street battles with authorities.
“They want to strike more fear in the people so they can go ahead with their election,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to stop that from happening. We’re going to go every day into the streets. … Then we’re going to take the capital, and we’re not going to allow them to have their election.”
Maduro has said that rewriting the constitution is needed to restore order, apply justice and re-establish peace in Venezuela.
Bloodshed and dire conditions
For months, violence has spiraled out of control as the struggle for food and medicine grows.
Outbreaks erupted again Wednesday, though not to the extent of recent deadly clashes.
Police with riot gear and shields clashed Wednesday with masked protesters who threw rocks and Molotov cocktails.
CNN Venezuela tweeted that the state of Lara and its capital, Barquisimeto, and other states have joined the strike.
The political upheaval intensified in late March when the Venezuelan Supreme Court dissolved Parliament and transferred all legislative powers to itself.
The opposition claimed Maduro was creating a dictatorship.
The decision was reversed three days later, but it triggered a series of bloody street protests that have lasted for months.
As of Thursday, 106 people have been killed in Venezuela’s political unrest since April, the attorney general’s office told CNN.
Silent protests, too
The usually bustling streets of Caracas were silent early Wednesday as the strike paralyzed parts of the capital.
“No one wants to keep living under Maduro’s regime,” tweeted Richard Blanco, a National Assembly member representing Caracas.
Protesters from across the country participated in the strike.
More than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away from Caracas, indigenous people blocked a road in the village of Kumarakapay in the Great Savanna region.
“Pemon indigenous people from the Great Savanna on 48-hour strike Kumarakapay,” tweeted Americo De Grazia, another National Assembly member.
Rallying support on both sides
The strike is not the first of its kind in Venezuela.
Last week, millions voted in a nonbinding referendum to reject Maduro’s controversial plan to rewrite the constitution, but the government condemned the election as illegal.
A 24-hour strike followed that turned violent.
Now, both sides are rallying support ahead of Sunday’s vote.
Before the strike began, opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez urged Venezuelans to keep up protests in a 15-minute video posted online.
Lopez called Maduro and his supporters a “very clear threat,” saying their goal is to undermine democracy and achieve the “absolute submission of the Venezuelan people.”
Lopez, the former mayor of a Caracas district with ambitions for the presidency, was released from prison to house arrest earlier this month. He had been detained since early 2014 over accusations of inciting anti-government protests.