Venezuelan President Calls Opposition to Democratic Path

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called on the opposition to return to a democratic and electoral role after five weeks of violent protests promoted by hardline leaders that have left 31 dead and over 400 injured, Xinhua news agency reported.

Speaking at a meeting with pro-government mayors and governors to review the ongoing peace plans in the country, Maduro said that the only goal and plan of the radical sectors of the opposition are to topple his democratically elected government.

He referred to the case of jailed opposition mayor of San Diego, Vicencio Scarano, who defied the Supreme Court by instigating violence in his jurisdiction, allowing street barricades and disrupting the public order.

“Nobody in this country is above the law, the State and the people of Venezuela. How many times have we called upon the opposition to participate in a national dialogue?” Maduro said.

Scarano was sentenced to 10 months in jail and removed from his post after he publicly defied a sentence handed down by the Supreme Court last March 12, where it called upon opposition mayors in some towns of the nation to allow free transit in their localities and prevent protesters from setting up “barricades” .

In another moment, Maduro showed a video where the mayor of the eastern Caracas district of Chacao, Ramon Muchacho, publicly told protesters that they aimed to topple the Venezuelan president.

Maduro said that according to intelligence information, Muchacho was providing logistic and political support to violent protesters.

He added that the opposition in Venezuela has only tried to illegally topple the Bolivarian Revolution during the last 15 years without a democratic project and respect for the Constitution.

Maduro again called on the opposition to participate in the National Conference for Peace and Dialogue set up to discuss different topics of the Venezuelan society.