Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro begins a second term in office on Thursday, shrugging off international criticism that his reelection last year was illegitimate but facing further isolation as an economic crisis fuels a humanitarian emergency.<\/p>\n
Leaders from the ruling Socialist Party have disavowed criticism of Maduro\u2019s inauguration, which will keep him at the helm of the OPEC member until 2025, and called for rallies in his support. Opposition leaders, however, have portrayed the inauguration as the moment at which Maduro will be internationally branded a dictator following a widely boycotted 2018 election that many foreign governments described as a farce.<\/p>\n
But continued support from the military, a fractured opposition and a relentless crackdown on opposition critics means that Maduro appears to face few serious challenges at home, despite the international outcry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve tried to turn a constitutional swearing-in ceremony into a world war,\u201d Maduro said during a news conference on Wednesday. \u201cBut whether there\u2019s rain, thunder or lightning, we\u2019re going to triumph.\u201d<\/p>\n
Explosions heard at a military event in Venezuela were an attempted attack on president Nicolas Maduro, the country’s government said.Maduro will then head to a ceremony at Venezuela\u2019s military academy, signaling the importance of the armed forces in his governing coalition. Bank notes that once paid for months\u2019 worth of groceries are now tossed in trash cans or even woven into multi-colored women\u2019s handbags sold by street merchants.<\/p>\n
The United States and many Latin American and European countries condemned the vote, leaving Maduro backed by just a handful of stalwart allies from leftist governments.<\/p>\n
There are few signs that countries will shutter embassies or sever ties with Venezuela, according to diplomatic sources, but most will not send diplomats to the inauguration.<\/p>\n
Maduro last year won reelection despite the economic chaos in large part because the opposition boycotted the vote. He blames an \u201ceconomic war\u201d led by the United States and the domestic opposition to try to undermine socialism as the cause for the country\u2019s woes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree with the measures that Venezuela is taking,\u201d said Francisco Rivas, 53, a state employee wearing a red shirt who joined a crowd outside the Miraflores presidential palace in support of Maduro. \u201cHe is looking out for the wellbeing of the Venezuelan people, but many have betrayed him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re trying to scare us so that we don\u2019t protest,\u201d said Henry Ramirez, 39, a computer engineer in the western city of San Cristobal, attempting to cut into a line for gasoline, the type of queue that has become increasingly frequent during the crisis. \u201cTomorrow the dictatorship continues.\u201d<\/p>\n
While politically motivated demonstrations have faded, protests take place nearly every day to demand salary improvements, access to food and medicine, or improvements to erratic power and water services. Even supporters of Chavez\u2019s \u201cBolivarian revolution\u201d were losing patience with the economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro begins a second term in office on Thursday, shrugging off international criticism that his reelection last year was illegitimate but facing further isolation as an economic crisis fuels a humanitarian emergency. Leaders from the ruling Socialist Party have disavowed criticism of Maduro\u2019s inauguration, which will keep him at the helm of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52314,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52312\/revisions\/52314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}