october 28, 2016 venezuela crisis enters dangerous phase as maduro foes go militant in a curious convergence of events on the same day last week, four venezuelan provincial courts issued identical rulings, state governors quickly hit twitter to celebrate, then the election board emailed a short but bombshell statement. opposition hopes for a referendum to recall president nicolas maduro were dashed, on grounds of fraud in an initial signature drive. the vote was off. for many in the opposition, that settled a years-old debate about the nature of venezuela<u+2019>s socialist government, uniting them in conviction they are now fighting a dictatorship. their new militancy heightens the risk of unrest as the south american opec member of 30 million people grapples with a dangerous economic and political crisis. <u+201c>can anyone in the world now really doubt that venezuela is living in tyranny?<u+201d> said housewife mabel pinate, 62, dressed in white among thousands of protesters who took to the streets against maduro on wednesday. <u+201c>we are sick of this. it<u+2019>s time to toughen up and do what we must to save venezuela,<u+201d> added pinate, whose husband was fired from state oil company pdvsa by maduro<u+2019>s predecessor hugo chavez and whose two children have gone abroad.
venezuela crisis enters dangerous phase as maduro foes go militant
kaitlyn stegall