Catholic Church calls Venezuela government 'dictatorship'

Catholic Church calls Venezuela government 'dictatorship'
By Jim Wyss
jwyss@miamiherald.com

BOGOTA, Colombia

Venezuela's Catholic Church on Friday blasted President Nicolás Maduro
for trying to impose a "dictatorship" by pushing forward an unpopular
plan to overhaul the constitution.

Speaking at a public event, Archbishop Diego Padron, the president of
Venezuela's Episcopal Conference, said the government's decision to
elect more than 500 delegates on July 30 to rewrite the constitution is
illegitimate.

"The Episcopal Conference has deemed that the national assembly of
constituents is unnecessary and inconvenient," Padron said. The assembly
is "being imposed by force and the result will be the [formalization] of
a military, socialist, Marxist and communist dictatorship."

Caracas's Palacio Federal Legislativo building was evacuated after
pro-government protesters stormed the building on July 5, Venezuela's
Independence Day. El Nacional reported that a group of armed government
supporters brushed past security around the op
Venezuelan National Assembly via Storyful

Padron said that, by law, the government couldn't call for the
constitutional assembly without first holding a national referendum — a
vote that polls show the government would lose.

The Catholic Church and the socialist administration have been at odds
for years, but this is some of the harshest rhetoric yet to come from
the religious institution.

The statement comes as more than three months of anti-government
protests have left more than 90 dead and hundreds detained.
Demonstrators are asking for general elections and the release of
political prisoners amid a crushing economic crisis. Maduro has said the
constitutional assembly will bring peace to the troubled South American
nation. But critics say that the way the delegates will be selected
means the administration will be able to pack the body with its supporters.

On Wednesday, Venezuela's opposition-controlled congress approved a July
16 referendum that will allow the country to decide whether it wants the
constitutional assembly. But that measure doesn't have the support of
the National Electoral Council, meaning it will be largely symbolic.

It was during that contentious congressional session Wednesday that
pro-government agitators broke into the legislative compound and injured
several lawmakers.

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