caracas, venezuela<u+2014>talks between president nicol<u+00e1>s maduro and the opposition meant to defuse the country<u+2019>s political crisis are off to a shaky start after the embattled leftist leader threatened to jail rivals calling for street protests. mr. maduro directed a stern warning to the popular will party on his weekly television program<u+00a0>tuesday night, calling it a terrorist organization. his comments came after the party said it objected to the opposition alliance<u+2019>s plan to ease protest pressure on the president in favor of vatican-mediated talks, which the u.s. state department endorsed. <u+201c>maduro, with his aggression toward popular will and his attempt to divide venezuela<u+2019>s democrats, is kicking over the [negotiation] table and making a mockery of the words of pope francis, <u+201d> jesus torrealba, head of the opposition coalition, said wednesday. <u+201c>an attack on one of us is an attack against all of us.<u+201d> with the oil-rich nation<u+2019>s economy teetering on collapse, mr. maduro is facing growing civil unrest. he and his allies have scuttled constitutionally sanctioned efforts to unseat him through a recall referendum, splitting the opposition over how to confront his increasing authoritarianism. the opposition agreed on tuesday to postpone its recall drive as well as its presidential impeachment hearings in congress. it also said it would put off nationwide protests it had planned to breathe life into the nascent talks with the government , much to the chagrin of some members who say the opposition is kowtowing to mr. maduro. the president aimed his ire at popular will lawmaker freddy guevara, who voiced his party<u+2019>s objection to the new strategy on tuesday. mr. maduro threatened to have mr. guevara stripped of his parliamentary immunity and jailed. <u+201c>when i say something, i follow through,<u+201d> mr. maduro said to applause from supporters. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m not afraid to follow through.<u+201d> <u+201c>maduro, your threats only make us stronger,<u+201d> popular will responded. the party says dozens of its activists have been thrown into prison or have fled the country to avoid political persecution. its leader leopoldo l<u+00f3>pez is serving a nearly 14-year prison sentence on charges that human-rights groups say are trumped up. mr. l<u+00f3>pez championed months of nationwide street protests in 2014 that sought mr. maduro<u+2019>s ouster and cost at least 43 lives, mostly at the hands of state security forces and armed pro-government groups, known as collectives, that the president used to put down the uprising. seeking to calm unrest within the opposition<u+2019>s ranks, mr. torrealba on wednesday said its pressure tactics on mr. maduro were only being delayed at the request of the vatican mediators. he said the mediators feared that the major demonstration planned for this week at the miraflores presidential palace could lead to violence. the protest in downtown caracas would have been symbolic because the opposition has been prohibited from gathering there since 2002, when demonstrations led to 19 deaths and the brief ouster of mr. maduro<u+2019>s predecessor and mentor, the late hugo ch<u+00e1>vez. <u+201c>we only postponed. we didn<u+2019>t suspend the plans,<u+201d> mr. torrealba said. write to kejal vyas at kejal.vyas@wsj.com
maduro threatens to imprison venezuela opposition for advocating demonstrations  - wsj
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