Venezuelans plan duelling marches as deadly crisis continues

Caracas: Venezuelan protesters and supporters of embattled President Nicolas Maduro take to the streets on Saturday as a deadly political crisis plays out in a divided country on the verge of paralysis.

Freddy Guevara, vice president of the opposition-majority National Assembly, said protesters would turn out in huge numbers to show the government "that after 50 days of resistance, of deaths and arrests, we are stronger than ever, and we will not give up".

Maduro's opponents expressed confidence that the march on Caracas's main motorway will surpass that of April 19, the largest so far in seven weeks of demonstrations that have left 47 people dead, hundreds injured and 2,200 detained.

The opposition has complained of "savage repression" by the government, which in turn accuses them of "terrorist" tactics in service of a US-funded coup attempt.

But Maduro has his supporters, too. Food workers who back his controversial plan for a pro-government constitutional assembly will march today to the Miraflores presidential palace, where the president will receive them.

Venezuela is bitterly divided, as locals bridle under chronic shortages of food and medicine, soaring inflation rates -- prices could rise by 720 per cent this year, the IMF estimates -- and some of the world's highest crime rates.

As protests have turned violent, an increasing number of gunshot wounds have been reported. Federal prosecutors said they are investigating the role of police and military personnel in the incidents.

Some of the shootings took place in Tachira state, near the border with Colombia, where Maduro this week deployed 2,600 soldiers after riots and looting.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said that one of his lawyers delivered a report on the crisis yesterday to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, after Venezuelan officials "cancelled" Capriles's passport, preventing him from flying to New York.

Opposition protests have swelled since Maduro called for convening a "popular" assembly to re-write the Venezuelan constitution, with half its members coming from sectors loyal to him.

The opposition says the assembly would allow Maduro to avoid elections. He denies this and has "guaranteed" that presidential polls will be held next year, as required by law.

Guevara said that if Maduro proceeds with his plan, it will mean the "final stage" of his government.

"The people will paralyse the country," he said.

Maduro insisted yesterday that the "popular" assembly would provide a "path to peace, dialogue and consensus," while the opposition, he said, was offering only "violence and death".

Analysts say the opposition's biggest challenge will be to keep their marches peaceful.

Protests succeed only when they are massive and persistent, said Luis Vicente Leon, who heads the Datanalisis polling firm. He warned that when demonstrations turn violent, they "lose impact".

Seven in 10 Venezuelans reject Maduro's leadership, according to private surveys, amid widespread economic devastation aggravated by the drop in the prices of oil -- Venezuela's chief revenue source -- in 2014.

That has left Maduro heavily dependent on the support of the military.

Opposition protests grew after the country's Supreme Court on March 30 assumed some of the functions of the National Assembly.

That decision - partially reversed after a wave of criticism from abroad -- drew the United States into the conflict.

On Thursday, the US Treasury imposed economic sanctions on eight Supreme Court justices, accusing them of "usurping" legislative powers. President Donald Trump called the situation "a disgrace to humanity".

Maduro replied angrily: "Get your dirty hands out of here, enough of imperialist intervention!"