Venezuelan women march in protest following suspension of recall referendum against President Maduro

World Today

Venezuelan women march in protest following suspension of recall referendum against President Maduro

Thousands of protesters have demonstrated in Caracas after the decision to suspend a recall referendum against President Maduro.

The oil-producing nation is in the midst of the world’s steepest recession. CCTV America’s Stephen Gibbs has more from Caracas.

For a few hours this morning, the traffic was stopped in the Venezuelan capital, this was dubbed the “women’s march.

Venezuela’s women say they are bearing much of this nation’s pain.

The demonstrations are not just for a Venezuelan audience. They are, in part, aimed at raising the profile of this country’s beleaguered opposition internationally.

The group’s most prominent spokeswoman is Lilian Tintori, wife of an imprisoned politician

“The international community is with us. We travelled around the world for two years and 8 months. This is a dictatorship,” she said.

In fact, the international community remains divided in its approach to Venezuela .

Some countries including the new governments in Brazil and Argentina are taking an harder line; and cautioning Venezuelan government from ignoring its domestic critics.

Others, many of which were represented at a recent developing world summit hosted by Venezuela, have offered close to unconditional support to President Maduro.

The latest dispute there involves a recall referendum designed to cut short Maduro’s six-year term of office. The procedure is written into the Venezuelan constitution.

But on Thursday the country’s electoral authority abruptly suspended the process, citing alleged irregularities by the opposition.

One thing we have been hearing repeatedly from people attending this opposition protest is they feel a line has been crossed by the government.

The government’s more radical opponents believe this will be the start of something much bigger

Maria Corina Machado, Opposition Leader, Full Sot (Female English): “Here you can see Venezuelan people we are united in the streets and clear where we are going. We are going to have a transition to democracy this year.”

The target much of the opposition anger, meanwhile, remains out of the country. Opposition Leader Nicolas Maduro says an urgent priority for the benefit of all Venezuelans is his effort to raise the global price of oil. To that end, he and his entourage are currently in Iran

Back in Caracas, opposition supporters began to disperse. They will be back, they say, next Wednesday in far bigger numbers.