Venezuelan President Maduro Will Push Ahead And Call A Referendum To Rewrite The Constitution

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (R) shows a copy of the country's constitution as he sits next to Vice President Tareck El Aissami, during a meeting with Vice Presidents at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela June 1, 2017. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

Reuters: Venezuela's Maduro vows referendum, death toll from unrest hits 62

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro pledged on Thursday to hold a referendum on a new constitution he has proposed to try and quell two months of anti-government unrest that has killed at least 62 people.

His comments came after criticism from opponents and some within his own government that his plan to create a new super-body, known as a constituent assembly, to rewrite the national charter was anti-democratic.

Chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega had said creating the assembly without a plebiscite, as happened in 1999 when Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez rewrote the constitution, threatened to "eliminate" democracy in Venezuela.

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Update #1: Maduro pushes ahead with referendum as protests go on -- DW
Update #2: Nicolas Maduro vows constituent assembly referendum -- Al Jazeera

WNU Editor: It is too late. Calling a referendum ..... even an election .... will not change the dynamics on the ground. I have seen enough revolutions in my life to know that Venezuela is just a  step or two away from it. And the guns that former Venezuelan President Chavez gave to the local militias and defense communities .... and continued under Maduro .... will now be used against them by people who are desperate and hungry. The only way that Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro can save his Presidency is to put the Army on the street and declare martial law .... and hope that the many Cuban intelligence advisers who are in the country are enough to maintain the loyalty within the ranks that Maduro needs.