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Venezuela's Vice President Tareck El Aissami said on Sunday that
voting was proceeding smoothly, except for an "isolated incident" in
Tachira state that authorities brought under control.
He called Sunday's vote "a turning point towards a Venezuela with equality (and) social justice."
From the early morning, Venezuelans turned out in large numbers to
vote for a constituent assembly to amend the constitution, said El
Aissami.
"The people have turned out en masse to exercise this fundamental
human right, this right that shows Venezuelans' civic spirit (and)
commitment to building a country in a peaceful and democratic way," El
Aissami told reporters, after casting his vote in central Aragua state.
Samuel Moncada, foreign affairs minister, said the participation of
Venezuelans on Sunday, in the election of a National Constituent
Assembly (ANC) is a "vote for peace."
After voting, the Venezuelan minister told the press of the
importance to seeing the people out voting and rejected the country's
critics.
"Opponents, some governments and even the CIA do not recognize this
power...because they have a plan to control Venezuela. We do not need
them or the vote of opponents," said Moncada.
Moncada highlighted the election for the ANC, which will rewrite the
Constitution, as a "declaration of sovereignty," as well as
"self-determination, independence, liberty, rebellion and pride."
As the day went on, however, tensions bubbled over into violence and five dead were reported.
In the morning, Ricardo Campos, 30, died in the northeast state of Sucre, the prosecutor-general's office said on Twitter.
An opposition legislator, Deputy Henry Ramos Allup, identified Campos
as a youth opposition leader for the conservative Democratic Action
(AD) party, and said he died of a gunshot near his home.
Later in the day came the announcement of four more deaths. Two
adults, Luis Zambrano, 43, in the central state of Lara, and Ronald
Ramirez, an army lieutenant, in the western state of Tachira.
According to the prosecutor-general, Luis Zambrano was shot dead
during a protest in Barquisimeto, the capital of Lara, while Ramirez was
shot in the left lung during an opposition protest at the Jauregui de
La Grita military school in Tachira.
In the western state of Tachira, two teenagers, aged 17 and 13, were
also killed. The first, Luis Ortiz, was killed in the municipality of
Cardenas, when armed groups allegedly fired at the protesters.
The 13-year-old, who was unnamed by authorities, was reported killed in the town of Capacho Viejo.
Polls opened at 6 a.m. for elections to choose the members of a
National Constituent Assembly (ANC) to debate and amend the
Constitution, an initiative proposed by the government of President
Nicolas Maduro to resolve the political crisis and rejected by the
opposition as an attempt to consolidate his power.
Caracas-based news network Telesur posted photos on its website that
showed large crowds or long lines at polling stations in different parts
of the country.
The coalition of conservative opposition parties, known by its
Spanish acronym MUD, contested reports that turnout was robust, posting
images of abandoned streets outside what it alleged were polling
stations on Sunday.
Despite the opposition calling on its supporters to defy a ban
against anti-government demonstrations, there were no reports of major
disturbances, according to electoral officials.
While governments such as the U.S., Mexico, Colombia and Panama have
said they would not recognize the results of the election, Venezuelan
authorities were defiant.
The President of Venezuela's Constituent Commission, Elias Jaua, said
that the ANC did not need the recognition of "any government."
After voting around midday, Jaua told the press that "the ANC is a
constitutional instrument, no government of the world has the right to
recognize or not the will of the Venezuelan people."
He took particular aim at the U.S. and Colombia saying that Juan
Manuel Santos, president of Colombia, and Donald Trump, president of the
United states, "must respect it, as this people has its own soul and
conscience."
"Tomorrow (Monday), we will start the ANC and, through it, the path
to recovering the guarantees of peace and dialogue among all
Venezuelans....hopefully the opposition understands this," he concluded.
