Your Guide to the Uproar Over Venezuela’s Constitution
Why Venezuela's Many Crises Keep Getting Worse
Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, drew widespread criticism at home and abroad when he announced in May that he’d convoke a constituent assembly to consider changing the country’s constitution -- which has already happened 26 times in the nation’s 206-year history. The opposition slammed the move as an illegal power grab, predicting that the government would stack the assembly with its supporters. An estimated 7.5 million people participated in an unofficial referendum organized by Maduro’s opponents on July 17, and U.S. President Donald Trump warned of “strong and swift economic actions” if Maduro proceeds with his plans.
It’s a constitutional convention called by the president and made up of elected delegates. It has the power not only to revise the constitution but to write a new one, or to disband or replace branches of the government. The last such assembly was called in 1999, when former President Hugo Chavez oversaw the crafting of the current constitution, replacing one written in 1961.