Capriles: ‘The government is promoting the violence’ – Deutsche Welle

DW: The confrontation between government and opposition in Venezuela is continuing, with no sign of reconciliation. The power struggle is increasingly taking place on the street, and it's now claimed another two victims, including a 14-year-old boy who was shot and killed. How can the spiral of violence in Venezuela be stopped?

Henrique Capriles: We Venezuelans are not violent; I think the world has realized that. We are a peaceful people trying to escape this crisis by means that are written into the constitution. What will end the phase in which our country currently finds itself? Allowing free and democratic elections and respecting the constitution, to put a stop to this coup d'tat that's being staged and controlled by Maduro together with the Supreme Court.

What is the limit of the violence the opposition is prepared to endure?

The violence is being promoted by the government itself. The government has paramilitary groups - armed civilians - that operate on the fringes of legality. We've also seen repression by state security forces. What we've experienced is rampant oppression, and the government has to stop this. The government is violating human rights. A thing like that has no statute of limitations. All democratic governments and international organizations have spoken out about this. Maduro has to understand that he can't place himself above the constitution, or on the fringes of the constitution, and that violating the constitution has consequences.

Protesters have clashed with police during anti-Maduro rallies in Caracas

What role should the international community play?

We've now heard a clear position from the international community for the first time. This explicitly calls on Maduro to respect the constitution. There's been a breach of the constitutional order, which must be reinstated. This is the position Germany and the European Union have taken. Just recently, it was announced that my political rights were being revoked for 15 years. The European Union and Germany responded to this, too.

What political scope do you still have now that your political rights have been withdrawn?

I don't recognize this decision. Of course I will fight for it to be rescinded. Maduro believes that by doing this he can prevent me from standing as a candidate and becoming president. He believes that when they decide to call an election, he can choose who gets to stand. He believes he can choose his opposition. That is absolutely unacceptable to the Venezuelan people.

Henrique Capriles Radonski is regarded as the opposition's most promising candidate for the coming elections in 2018. The Venezuelan politician is currently governor of the federal state of Miranda. Last week the government withdrew his right to hold public office for 15 years. What effect this has on his post as governor remains unclear.

The interview was conducted by Ana Plasencia

Violent protests erupted across the country following a Supreme Court decision in late March to strip the legislative branch of its powers. Amid an international outcry, President Nicolas Maduro reversed the decision, but it was too late. Thousands have taken to the streets in the weeks since to call for new elections. They show no signs of stopping.

As of March, Venezuela's inflation rate surpassed 220 percent, according to the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics. The country's largest bill - the 100 bolivar note - was worth just $0.04 at the end of last year. Shopping trips now require stacks, or even bags, of cash to buy the bare necessities.

An estimated 80 percent of food items and other basics were in short supply by last year. Venezuelans spend more than 30 hours a week waiting in lines to shop, and are often confronted with empty shelves when they finally can enter a store. President Maduro blames the crisis on US price speculation. The opposition, however, accuses the government of economic mismanagement.

In Colombia, Venezuelans are collecting medical supplies to send home, as seen in this picture. Hospitals around the country have compared conditions to those seen otherwise only in war zones. As patient deaths rise, health officials have sounded the alarm on the rise of malaria and dengue fever.

Electricity blackouts and fuel shortages have also driven Venezuelans to desperation. Despite Venezuela's possession of the world's largest oil reserves, drivers face long lines at the gas pump. A 50-percent collapse in oil prices in 2014 devastated the oil-dependent economy. In 2013, revenues were $80 billion. That figure dropped to $20 billion by 2016, according to IMF figures.

Lower poverty rates, better education and health, and economic growth: These are all part of the legacy of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013. Equally part of the socialist's legacy was mismanagement. Not only did he fail to keep the state oil company up to date under increased government control, but his government also overspent despite a drop in oil production after 2006.

Chavez's hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, has been in office for four years and has two more to go. The opposition center-right coalition, which has controlled the National Assembly since 2015, has accused him of "abandoning his post" by failing to stem the economic devastation. It has also denounced him for rights abuses.

The most recent example of Maduro's rights abuses was to silence opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, pictured above. In early April, Capriles was banned from seeking public office for 15 years due to "administrative irregularities" in his role as a governor. Capriles had been at the forefront of demands for a referendum on Maduro. The ban further inflamed tensions with protesters.

Aside from protests, the opposition collected 2 million signatures for a referendum last year, roughly 10 times the number required. And in a move against the Supreme Court - and in lieu of impeachment hearings - it also held a symbolic trial for Maduro. Numerous attempts to stymie its attempts to pressure the government have only emboldened these lawmakers.

Last September saw some 1 million Venezuelans march on Caracas. The opposition hopes April 19 protests - "the mother of all protests" to coincide with Maduro's fourth annivesary - will be even bigger. Meanwhile, the international community looks on with concern. The Organization for American States is mulling a suspension for Venezuela unless it calls elections to emerge from "dictatorship."

Author: Kathleen Schuster

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Capriles: 'The government is promoting the violence' - Deutsche Welle