Venezuela's government today sought to quash deadly protests against a controversial weekend election, issuing a ban that sharply intensifies a showdown over President Nicolas Maduro's widely panned plan to rewrite the constitution.
From tomorrow, those taking part in rallies, demonstrations, marches that "could disturb or affect" the vote planned for Sunday would face between five and 10 years in prison, Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said, reading a presidential decree in a news conference.
The order was issued ahead of a mass protest called for tomorrow by the opposition, which is trying to force Maduro to scrap the election which will select a body tasked with drafting a new constitution for the crisis-hit country.
More than 100 people have died in four months of anti- government protests. Maduro is increasingly relying on security forces to keep power.
The opposition, which controls the legislature, has urged civil disobedience against what it terms a "dictatorship."
Today, the opposition staged the second day of a 48-hour general strike -- the second in a week.
Protests during the stoppage have left three people dead -- two men, aged 30 and 23, in the western province of Merida, and a 14-year-old boy in an eastern Caracas slum, according to prosecutors. The latest deaths raised to 106 the number of people killed since April 1.
The protests and strikes were part of an opposition strategy to force Maduro from power through early elections.
Supporters of the opposition and the Maduro government skirmished in the streets, with overnight volleys of tear gas, rubber bullets and homemade bombs arcing through the air in the capital.
Barricades made from debris littered the eastern part of the city, with signs reading "No more dictatorships!"
"What happens if they impose the Constituent Assembly? The crisis will worsen. Where does Maduro want to take the country? To a social explosion?" asked Henrique Capriles, an opposition leader.
With crippling shortages of basic goods and soaring inflation, protest organizers claimed 92 per cent of businesses and workers support the strike.
Maduro's regime is also feeling the squeeze internationally.
The United States has hit 13 current and former Venezuelan officials with sanctions, freezing the assets and putting a travel ban on Reverol, military brass, the president of the electoral council, and the finance chief of state oil company PDVSA.
Maduro called the US punishment "illegal, insolent and unprecedented."
The EU, UN and heavyweight nations in the Organization of American States have all also urged Maduro to drop his controversial plan.
But Maduro has pushed on, accusing Washington of fomenting unrest against him, aided by the conservative opposition. He can count on the Venezuelan military, which has declared loyalty to him.
Some 70 per cent of Venezuelans oppose the Constituent Assembly, according to polling firm Datanalisis.
The hardening political struggle has deepened fears that months of street violence could worsen, perhaps even tip into open civil conflict.
That has prompted thousands of Venezuelans to flee to neighboring Colombia this week.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, announcing America's sanctions yesterday, warned that any of the 545 members to be elected to Maduro's Constituent Assembly could also face US punishment.
Venezuela's opposition, bolstered by an unofficial vote on July 16 that saw a third of the electorate reject Maduro's plan, has called for a vote boycott.
At the same time, Maduro's administration is being squeezed by the long-running economic crisis.
The oil export-dependent economy will shrink 12 per cent this year, after a contraction of 18 per cent last year, the International Monetary Fund said.
Inflation is projected to top 720 per cent.
Venezuela's currency reserves have dwindled to under USD 10 billion as the government keeps up debt repayments at the expense of imports to stave off a crippling default.
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