LAST-DITCH EFFORT

Venezuela’s Maduro Wants to Rewrite Constitution

Opponents warn decree is a trap to deny right to vote.

Amid growing unrest and after weeks of violent protests, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday signed a decree calling for a citizens’ assembly to rewrite the country’s constitution. Maduro, who has been the target of protesters’ ire for months, touted the move as a way to allow “the workers” to decide on a new constitution rather than any political parties. But the opposition lambasted the measure as a “giant fraud” aimed at allowing the president to maneuver out of the current political unrest and stay in power. National Assembly President Julio Borges railed against the president’s decree, warning that it would deprive Venezuelans of their right to vote. He also called on the country’s military to intervene to prevent Maduro from staging a coup, the Associated Press reported. “What the Venezuelan people want isn’t to change the constitution but to change Maduro through voting,” he was quoted as saying at a news conference held in Caracas on Monday. His comments came as protests demanding Maduro’s ouster entered into their second month, with at least a dozen demonstrators killed in rioting.