Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was to install a powerful new assembly of his allies today, dismissing an international outcry and opposition protests saying he is burying democracy in his country.
The Constituent Assembly, elected last weekend in a vote marred by violence and allegations of fraud, will sit in a chamber in the Legislative Palace in Caracas, where the opposition-controlled legislature is located.
The inaugural session of its 500-plus members — who include Maduro’s wife and son — will take place under high tension.
The opposition has called a mass march in the capital, raising fears of violence that could add to a death toll of more than 100 over the past four months.
According to AFP News, the Vatican on today urged the inauguration of the new assembly be suspended. It also appealed for Venezuelan security service to show restraint.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s intelligence service unexpectedly transferred a high-profile opposition figure, Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma, from jail to house arrest, his wife said.
Ledezma and another opposition figure, Leopoldo Lopez, had been taken from their homes to military prison on Tuesday, reversing earlier home detentions. Lopez remains incarcerated, one of hundreds of what the opposition called political prisoners.
