HEATING UP

Venezuela Opposition: 7 Million Turned Out to Reject Maduro’s Plans

A 61-year-old woman was killed when government supporters swarmed one opposition polling site.

More than 7 million Venezuelans cast a symbolic vote against President Nicolás Maduro’s plan to rework the country’s constitution in his favor, opposition leaders said late Sunday evening. Maduro himself called the polling “illegal” and, according to the AP, a “61-year-old woman was killed and four people wounded by gunfire after government supporters on motorcycles swarmed an opposition polling site in a church in western Caracas.” Opposition organizers said the 7-million figure was below the turnout for the 2015 legislative elections because they were only able to set up 2,000 polling stations, as the government had labeled the vote criminal. Opposition leaders expressed hope that the unofficial referendum would further rally international support against Maduro two weeks before the July 30 vote he convened in an attempt to bring more pro-government legislators into the constitutional assembly.