Opposed: Venezuela lawmakers reject crisis plan
Lawmakers voted by 107 votes to 53 to reject the measure
CARACAS:
Venezuelan opposition lawmakers on Friday rejected President Nicolas Maduro’s bid to decree a state of economic emergency, deepening a political crisis in the oil-rich nation. Friday was the deadline for the opposition-controlled National Assembly to vote on Maduro’s decree, which would have given him special powers to intervene in the economic crisis. But his rivals in the assembly refused to pass it, prolonging a tense political standoff in the volatile South American state, where citizens are suffering shortages of food and goods. “We reject this decree because it means just more of the same,” said Jose Guerra, head of the congressional commission that examined the decree before the vote. Lawmakers voted by 107 votes to 53 to reject the measure. The decree, issued a week ago, would give Maduro 60 days of extraordinary powers to commandeer private companies’ resources, impose currency controls and take other unspecified measures.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 24th, 2016.
Venezuelan opposition lawmakers on Friday rejected President Nicolas Maduro’s bid to decree a state of economic emergency, deepening a political crisis in the oil-rich nation. Friday was the deadline for the opposition-controlled National Assembly to vote on Maduro’s decree, which would have given him special powers to intervene in the economic crisis. But his rivals in the assembly refused to pass it, prolonging a tense political standoff in the volatile South American state, where citizens are suffering shortages of food and goods. “We reject this decree because it means just more of the same,” said Jose Guerra, head of the congressional commission that examined the decree before the vote. Lawmakers voted by 107 votes to 53 to reject the measure. The decree, issued a week ago, would give Maduro 60 days of extraordinary powers to commandeer private companies’ resources, impose currency controls and take other unspecified measures.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 24th, 2016.