Venezuela's right-wing opposition-led National Assembly said Sunday Ocotber 23, they will move on impeaching President Nicolas Maduro for purportedly 'violating democracy,' in the wake of a nixed recall referendum against Maduro.
The National Assembly is currently in noncompliance with a ruling from the country's Supreme Court, therefore its actions have no legal standing, thus the measure is unlikely to get traction but it marked a further escalation of political tensions, and mirrors the right wing's "parliamentary coup" against Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff last month.
"It is a political and legal trial against President Nicolas Maduro to see what responsibility he has in the constitutional rupture that has broken democracy, human rights, and the future of the country," said opposition majority leader Julio Borges during a special congressional session.
In its resolution, the opposition coalition called for international intervention and repeated a series of accusations against President Maduro, including the long-discredited allegation that his Colombian ancestry makes him ineligible to hold office.
Hector Rodriguez, head of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, bloc in the National Assembly, called the actions of the right-wing opposition a “sad circus.”
Speaking to the press, Rodriguez said the opposition, which now claims to be acting in the name of democracy, repeatedly ignored the democratic mandates given to the PSUV throughout the years, openly supporting the 2002 military coup against Maduro's predecessor, the late President Hugo Chavez.
“They, who don't abide by any rules of the game, come and talk about democracy today,” said Rodriguez.
The opposition was slow to trigger the recall referendum process, making it virtually impossible for the referendum to occur in 2016. They also submitted a massive amount of irregular signatures during the drive to initiate the process.
“There will be no recall referendum in 2016 because of the errors the Venezuelan opposition committed,” added Rodriguez.
Maduro's party accuses the opposition of committing fraud in their signature drive and say the coalition is seeking a coup to gain control of Venezuela's vast crude reserves, the world's largest.
The government views the opposition call for demonstrations as an effort at destabilization and a precursor to the kind of violent protests seen in 2014 or even another coup attempt.
Rodriguez said the Venezuelan armed forces remained loyal to the constitution and the democratically-elected government.
The PSUV lawmaker said the social conditions in Venezuela were distinct from those in Brazil and Paraguay, where right-wing parliamentarians successfully ousted progressive presidents in recent years.
The opposition coalition has called for a major protest on Wednesday, dubbed "The takeover of Venezuela," something that is view by many as a direct call to violence.
In Sunday's raucous session, lawmakers traded barbs, with PSUV politicians showing up in T-shirts adorned with late leader Hugo Chavez's eyes while opposition congressmen chanted "The people are hungry and want a recall!"
"Today we're going to hear of everything in the right-wing's reality show," said PSUV lawmaker Tania Diaz, who brought a picture of Chavez to the podium.
Elias Jaua, a leading figure in the PSUV, called for a rally Tuesday to welcome President Maduro back from his international tour to help ensure a stable oil price.
In a post on his official Twitter account, Bolivian President Evo Morales express his support for the Socialist government in Venezuela.
