Venezuela opposition calls strike, Trump threatens 'actions'
18 July 2017 4:26 PM GMT
Venezuela's opposition called Monday for a 24-hour nationwide strike to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to drop plans to rewrite the constitution while the United States threatened "strong and swift economic actions" against his socialist administration if it ignores the will of voters in a referendum.
President Donald Trump joined other world leaders in urging Maduro to heed Sunday's symbolic plebiscite in which millions of voters rejected the plan to remake Venezuela's political system, which the opposition calls a power grab by the ruling party as it struggles with shortages, inflation and more than 100 days of anti-government protests. The vote came two weeks before Venezuela's government will hold an election to select a constituent assembly charged with rewriting the constitution. Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the European Union have also come out against the effort. "The United States will not stand by as Venezuela crumbles," Trump said in a statement. "If the Maduro regime imposes its Constituent Assembly on July 30, the United States will take strong and swift economic actions."
Trump lauded voters in Sunday's referendum, saying "their strong and courageous actions continue to be ignored by a bad leader who dreams of becoming a dictator."
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