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For President Nicolas Maduro, last Sunday’s victory put
in place a new legislative body with the power to rewrite the country’s
constitution and solidify his power. It came at a time of deep economic
uncertainty, with shortages of basic necessities, record homicides and
according to one university study, nearly 87 percent of the population
unable to afford food.
In the four months leading up to the vote, at least 125 people were killed as thousands took to the streets in protest.
CGTN
America spoke to George Ciccariello-Maher, an associate professor at
Drexel University, about whether the current unrest can lead to a civil
war.
Ciccariello-Maher said the opposition boycotting
the election is a sign that the events on the ground could be heading
towards such direction.
"It’s not surprising that
they’re not recognizing the result because they didn’t participate in
the election," he said about the opposition, recalling similar events in
"They did the same thing in 2005 and we were
left without representation in the National Assembly. So now, what
you’re seeing is a conscious choice to push harder, to push forward with
what would clearly be an unconstitutional exit."
"The
opposition consultation that it carried out a couple of weeks ago was
very clear on this. It talks about military intervention into politics.
They talked about forming a national unity government," he noted,
stressing that such features were not part of the Constitution.
However
"they use the language of defending the constitution to press for the
removal of the legitimately elected president of Venezuela."
Ciccariello-Maher
said that the situation is worrisome, especially if the Venezuelan
government fails to come up with solutions to the country's flagging
economy.
"These contradictions are going to be even
deeper, and there will be more protests in the street, and the
opposition will continue to press for the overthrow of this government
which has really been their policy, not only for the past couple of
years, but also for the last 15 years."
