The Venezuelan National Assembly, where the political opposition holds sway, on Monday declared President Nicolas Maduro to have “abandoned his post” and demanded new elections as a way out of the country’s political crisis so that “it may be the people who express themselves with their votes.”
Is this not a big deal?
The war might be on the assembly, on the opposition in general, or on the Dutch over their nearby island possessions in an effort to rally Venezuelans to his continued inept socialist rule.
But how is something like being declared not the president something to talk about?
UPDATE: Calling that vote a "coup" attempt, Maduro is striking at opponents:
Venezuelan authorities Thursday said they arrested four opponents of President Nicolas Maduro for plotting an armed revolt, while the opposition accused him of using intimidation to cling to power.
One of the arrested is a legislator.
At this point I'm assuming organized violence is coming.
UPDATE: Half a million troops and (armed?) civilians were sent out as a show of force by Maduro:
His finger on a rifle trigger and wearing an olive green hat, President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday oversaw military exercises in crisis-wrought Venezuela, which he says is under threat of imperialist" invasion due to its oil wealth.
The opposition would be wise not to take this lightly:
"You are PATHETIC, Nicolas Maduro," tweeted opposition lawmaker Armando Armas, adding the drill was a "pantomime."
This is more like scary serious. When no invaders show up, Maduro could easily send them against other targets already in the country--the opposition.
Or maybe send them against the Dutch possessions just off shore.
UPDATE: Maduro refused to give his annual presidential address to the legislature, as is required.
If he has given up even the pretense of talking to the opposition, what does that mean?
The article says that Maduro is unlikely to be budged with his support by the military and public institutions (other than the legislature, that is).
Can Maduro wait out the opposition until poverty and hunger defeat them?
Or will Maduro resort to open violence on a larger scale?
UPDATE: I'm not sure how Maduro could even outlast the opposition given how bad it is:
Venezuela is no longer a country with a government, institutions and a civil society. It’s a geographic area terrorized by a criminal enterprise that pretends to govern, with a civil society made up of two sets of people: accomplices and victims.
I'm not sure there's enough to keep the accomplices happy.
