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Amid threats of violence Venezuelan opposition tests resolve
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Opponents of Venezuela's government began flooding the streets of Caracas on Thursday in a major test of their strength and the government's ability to tolerate growing dissent.
The march called the "taking of Caracas" aims to pressure electoral authorities to allow a recall referendum against Maduro this year.
Protesters carrying Venezuelan flags chanted, "It's going to fall, it's going to fall, the government is going to fall."
The buildup to the protest was tense, with Maduro's government jailing several prominent activists, deploying security forces across the city and warning of bloodshed.
There were few immediate signs of violence Thursday, though Maduro this week repeatedly accused his opponents of plotting violence during the march to pave the way for a coup such as the one that briefly toppled his late predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2002. He said authorities had arrested people possessing military fatigues and C4 explosives, and who had plans to fire upon the crowds dressed as national guard members. He didn't say who he believed was behind the alleged coup plan.
"If they're coming with coups, ambushes and political violence, the revolutionary will provide an uncommon and overwhelming response," Maduro told supporters on Tuesday.
Rather than dampening Venezuelans' enthusiasm, the "warlike" rhetoric appears to be energizing the opposition, said Dimitris Pantoulas, a political analyst from Caracas.
Had the government minimized the protest's importance it would have likely failed to garner much support, he said. Better-off Venezuelans who are the opposition's political bedrock are on summer vacation and those less privileged are too busy standing in long lines for food and coping with the oil economy's collapse to engage in the heady ideological street battles of the kind that marked the early days of Chavez's rule 16 years ago.
"The government made a big mistake by throwing fuel onto the flames," said Pantoulas.
Among those taking part in the march, which organizers are hoping will draw 1 million people, were some 100 members of the Piaroa and Jiwi indigenous tribes who travelled more than 375 miles (600 kilometers) — by foot, canoe and bus — from the Amazon rainforest.
"We came to see if they'll free the political prisoners," said Miguelina Caballero through an interpreter, referring to a Piaroa member who had been jailed for alleged fraud during December's congressional elections, a case the government used to disqualify three indigenous leaders from taking seats in the opposition-controlled legislature.
The opposition has staged a half-dozen or so marches this year, some of which ended in clouds of tear gas as hard-core activists clashed with riot police, but they posed no major risk to Maduro's grip on power. Even the anti-government protests in 2014 that were blamed for more than 40 deaths failed to rally the huge numbers sought for Thursday's march by the hard-to-keep together Democratic Unity alliance.
The opposition hopes to force electoral authorities widely seen as pro-government to allow a recall vote this year. If Maduro loses, new elections would be held and polls indicate the opposition would win. But if a vote is delayed until after Jan. 10 and Maduro loses, his vice president would finish his term ending in 2019.
Electoral authorities have yet to set the date for the next stage of the complex process, in which the opposition must collect 4 million signatures over three days, with a referendum vote scheduled only once the signatures are validated.
The government was holding a demonstration in support on Thursday, and raised a giant effigy to Chavez to rally backers.
Authorities over the weekend moved a prominent opposition leader, former San Cristobal Mayor Daniel Ceballos, from house arrest back to prison while he awaits trial on civil rebellion charges stemming from the 2014 protests. Authorities said he was plotting to flee and carry out violence during the protests.
Two other activists, Yon Goicoechea and Carlos Melo, were also detained this week, with a top socialist leader accusing Goicoechea of carrying explosives.
There have been more subtle threats as well. Government workers say they've suffered retaliation for signing petitions seeking Maduro's removal and the opposition-leaning newspaper El Nacional said thugs threw excrement and Molotov cocktails at its building Tuesday.
The U.S. State Department accused Maduro of trying to bully Venezuelans from taking part in the march.
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AP Writers Hannah Dreier and Fabiola Sanchez contributed to this report from Caracas. AP Writer Luis Alonso Lugo contributed from Washington.
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Joshua Goodman is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjoshgoodman His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/joshua-goodman
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