Venezuela accuses US of meddling

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and US Secretary of State John Kerry. AP FILE PHOTOS

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CARACAS – Venezuela accused the United States on Sunday of backing anti-government protesters who have marched against the leftist leader for two weeks and show no signs of backing down.

Protests against the government showed no sign of abating, as the fugitive opposition leader whom President Nicolas Maduro blames for sowing unrest broke his silence to urge another demonstration.

The oil-rich country’s deep-rooted problems of rising prices and basic goods shortages have sparked a wave of street rallies spearheaded by students who fear a future without jobs.

The demonstrations have developed into the biggest challenge to the country’s socialist rulers since the death of its longtime leader Hugo Chavez from cancer last year.

Accusing Washington of meddling to help sow the unrest, Maduro said he has ordered the expulsion of three US consular officials, whom he did not name.

“Go and do your (coup) plotting in Washington!” the president roared in a televised address, charging that the US diplomats had met with students involved in anti-government protests.

A foreign ministry statement said Maduro’s government “flatly rejects remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry, insofar as they represent yet another maneuver by the government in Washington to promote and legitimatize attempts to destabilize the Venezuelan democracy unleashed by violent groups in recent days.”

During a failed two-day coup against Maduro’s predecessor in 2002, the United States voiced support for a non-elected interim leader and not the elected president at the time, staunch US critic Chavez.

That move has deeply undermined Washington’s credibility in Latin America to this day.

Kerry had voiced alarm Saturday at the “senseless violence” that has broken out during protests in Venezuela and heavily criticized the detention of anti-government demonstrators.

With supporters and opponents of Maduro’s leftist government staging rival rallies in Caracas, following protests over soaring inflation and basic goods shortages, Kerry said he was deeply concerned, particularly at an arrest warrant being issued for opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.

–          Demonstrations target Maduro policies –

Venezuela, the OPEC member with the world’s largest proven oil reserves, remains mired in a deepening economic crisis that critics blame on policies that Maduro largely inherited from Chavez.

Strict controls on currency and prices have created huge bottlenecks that have fueled inflation and emptied store shelves.

Maduro hit back at criticism from his predecessor’s sworn-foe the United States, saying he would expel three US consular officials.

And the president received a provocative challenge from the man he blames for violence during last week’s protests in which three people died.

“This Tuesday the 18th, I would like to invite you all to march together from Plaza Venezuela – where on February 12 a glimmer of hope started to burn for change in everyone’s interest – to the Justice Ministry,” said Lopez, who heads up the country’s Popular Will party.

Lopez’s statement, in a video posted on his Twitter account, comes after an arrest warrant was issued alleging he was responsible for unrest that broke out during the protests, in which scores were also injured on Wednesday.

“If anyone has decided to illegally arrest and jail me, you know I will be there to take on the persecution… I have nothing to fear; I have not done anything illegal,” he vowed.

–          Problems mount for Maduro –

An estimated 3,000 people took part in an opposition rally in Caracas, and a fresh rally is planned for Monday.

Maduro has accused right-wing infiltrators of fomenting unrest but students have said groups of hooded assailants backed by the government are responsible for the clashes.

“We are going to continue in the streets, without violence,” Gabriela Arellano, a student leader from the University of the Andes, told a crowd, demanding that Maduro disarm the “collectives,” a reference to civilian support groups organized by the government when Chavez ruled.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost to Maduro in last year’s election to succeed the late Chavez, said it was “obvious” that the government was trying to create something to distract attention from the country’s huge economic problems.

“There is so much unhappiness out there,” he said, referring to inflation of more than 50 percent and a major surge in violent crime.

Students are demanding the release of jailed protesters and solutions to the inflation problems and shortages of food and other basic necessities.