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Deadly Election Day in Venezuela as Protesters Clash with Troops

By Joe Sterling, Flora Charner and Patrick Gillespie

AS/COA's Eric Farnsworth argued that the July 30 constituent assembly vote would "give the government the opportunity to turn Venezuela into a one-party state without any of the trappings of democracy."

Deadly clashes between protesters and police marred voting on Sunday, as Venezuelans cast ballots on a controversial measure that could mark a turning point for their country.

The election will allow President Nicolás Maduro to replace Venezuela's current legislative body -- the National Assembly -- with a new institution called the Constituent Assembly that will have the power to rewrite the constitution.

The voting follows weeks of violent street protests in which many people have been killed or injured. On Sunday the death toll rose sharply with at least six people -- including two teenagers -- killed at protests and a National Guard officer also reported dead by the Attorney General's Office.

The death toll from the unrest ongoing since early April is 125, according to a statement from the Venezuelan attorney general's office. That number does not include at least two of Sunday's deaths, in which the reasons for the killings are under investigation.


Lea el artículo en español aquí.


Polls were set to close at 7 p.m. ET, after officials extended voting by one hour.

Maduro, in a 2½ minute message posted to Twitter, called the vote a historic moment...

Critics in Venezuela and abroad argue a Maduro mandate would erode any last signs of democracy in the country. "It would give the government the opportunity to turn Venezuela into a one-party state without any of the trappings of democracy," says Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, a business association...

Read the full article here.

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