Masses of protesters with white shirts, homemade gas masks and flags draped around their shoulders shut down a main road in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in a continuation of near-daily street protests.

Soldiers closed access to the centre of the city and officials closed at least 10 metro stations in anticipation of Saturday’s protest, which was part of demonstrations across the country by hundreds of thousands of people. The protests marked 50 days of protests against the government of President Nicolás Maduro, with unrest gaining momentum despite a rising death toll and chaotic scenes of night-time looting.

State security forces have consistently prevented protesters from reaching the city centre, home to the presidential palace, supreme court and electoral authority.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Riot police in San Cristobal, Tachira on Saturday. Photograph: Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images

At least 46 people have been killed in the worst turmoil faced by Maduro since he won the presidency in 2013. Venezuelans from civilians to police have been killed, sometimes during increasingly frequent spates of looting or street melees.

President Maduro, meanwhile, has been posting videos of himself driving with windows rolled down through various neighbourhoods at night as he talks about restoring peace to the country. On Friday night, he drove past a plaza in the eastern part of the city that has become the centre of the opposition movement and noted how quiet the streets were. “Look at how peaceful it is here. We’re defeating the barricade-builders and violence-bringers,” he said.

Many Venezuelans are furious with Maduro’s government, blaming it for soaring inflation, shortages of everything from food to medicine and a crackdown on human rights. They are demanding elections, freedom for jailed activists, foreign aid and autonomy for the opposition-led legislature.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Opposition supporters clash with riot security forces in Caracas on Saturday. Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

On Saturday, protesters in Caracas brandished placards that read “No more dictatorship in Venezuela” while in the volatile border city of San Cristobal masked youths threw rocks, and a Reuters witness saw two protesters wielding machetes.

The Andean area near Colombia suffered a week of mayhem that included looting, prompting the government to send in 2,000 troops.

“We don’t want more deaths. We want salaries that mean something and medicines. The government invests more in bullets and weapons than in food and education for this country,” said Maria Diaz, a 33-year-old lawyer standing in the torrential rain in front of security forces with some 8,000 other protesters in San Cristobal.

Opposition protesters say the government is trying to maintain its grip on power despite the economic crisis. More than 2,600 protesters have been arrested across the country, more than a third of whom remain detained, according to a local rights group.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Opposition supporters at a rally against President Maduro in Caracas on Saturday. Photograph: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

The government, which says protesters are trying to foment a coup beneath pro-democracy rhetoric, held a counter-march in Caracas, with thousands of red-clad supporters singing and dancing. Officials frequently appear on state television with photos of vandalised stores and blocked roads that they blame on the opposition.

Venezuelan government sends troops to border state to stop looting and violence Read more

In recent weeks, protesters have thrown everything from excrement to petrol bombs at security forces, who have used tear gas and rubber bullets to block marches. Opposition lawmakers have joined protesters, often facing tear gas themselves. Two-time presidential candidate and de facto opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, led the Caracas march.

“Fifty days and they’ve assassinated 50 people. Despite everything, on day 50, amid more repression, there is more resistance and more fight for Venezuela,” said Capriles, surrounded by supporters.

He was recently barred from holding public office for 15 years and said this week that his passport was confiscated before a flight to New York, where he was set to visit the United Nations and denounce human rights violations.

On Thursday, the United States imposed sanctions on the chief judge and seven other members of Venezuela’s supreme court and President Donald Trump described Venezuela’s humanitarian situation as “a disgrace to humanity”.

Maduro responded by telling Trump to stop meddling in Venezuela’s affairs.</s>Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro delivered his most scathing critique of US President Donald Trump, telling him to stop intervening and “get your pig hands out of here.” Speaking before a crowd of supporters, a fired-up Maduro yesterday accused Trump of promoting an interventionist policy that infringes on his socialist government’s sovereignty.

“Go home, Donald Trump!” he said in heavily accented English.

The remarks come a day after the Trump administration slapped sanctions against eight members of Venezuela’s Supreme Court, accusing them of damaging the nation’s democracy. A ruling by the court in late March stripping the opposition-controlled assembly of its remaining powers ignited a deadly wave of unrest. While Venezuelan leaders have lashed out at US presidents frequently in the past, Maduro had largely been careful not to antagonise Trump. But Trump’s repeated criticisms of the troubled South American nation appear to have struck a nerve.

Speaking alongside Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Thursday, Trump expressed dismay at Venezuela’s crisis, asking how a country holding the nation’s largest oil reserves could be stricken by so much poverty and turmoil. Trump described Venezuela’s current state as a “disgrace to humanity.”

Nearly two months of street protests throughout Venezuela have left at least 46 people dead. Demonstrators are demanding new elections and blaming Maduro for the nation’s triple-digit inflation, rising crimes and vast food shortages. Trump’s comments and US sanctions against Venezuelan officials played to the government’s longstanding accusations of US imperialism.

“Get your hands out of here. Get your pig hands out of here!” Maduro said to the US president.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App now</s>Tens of thousands of people marched Saturday in the Venezuelan capital and elsewhere in the restive country, facing police tear gas as they protested against the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro.

Saturday's protests marked the 50th straight day of anti-government street demonstrations, some of which have been accompanied by disorder. Nearly 50 people have been killed.

In Caracas, where many residents face severe shortages of such daily necessities as food, medicine and toilet paper, marchers carried signs — some reading "No More Dictatorship" and "Millions Against Dictatorship" — as they moved toward the city center.

Protesters blame Maduro and his economic policies for soaring inflation and the continuing shortages. They have also demanded fresh elections and freedom for jailed protesters.

Counterdemonstrations have also escalated since Maduro's call earlier this month for a new constitution.

More than 2,000 protesters have been jailed since early April, when the demonstrations began, weeks after Maduro dissolved the National Assembly and lifted lawmakers' immunity from criminal arrest and prosecution. Activists say at least one-third of the detainees remain jailed.

The European Union called on the Maduro government and opposition groups this week to begin an "urgent, constructive and effective dialogue" aimed at resolving the political crisis.

Ahead of Saturday's marches in Caracas and the western city of Cristobal, activists had predicted a gathering in the capital larger than that on April 19, when hundreds of thousands of marchers swept through the city. However, witnesses said the eventual turnout fell well short of last month's showing.</s>CARACAS: Police fired tear gas on Saturday (May 20) at thousands of angry protesters marching in Venezuela's capital in the latest show of defiance against unpopular President Nicolas Maduro.

On the 50th straight day of street rallies against Maduro, protesters also erected barricades of tree branches and stones along the highway where an estimated 10,000 people trudged toward the Interior Ministry in the city centre.

In the western city of San Cristobal in Tachira state, an estimated 40,000-plus took to the streets. Maduro this week ordered 2,600 soldiers to Tachira to quell street violence and looting.

In Caracas, demonstrators carried signs that read "#We are millions against the dictatorship" and "#No more dictatorship!"

Protesters blame the socialist Maduro for oil-rich Venezuela's acute economic crisis, marked by shortages of food, medicine and such basics as soap and even toilet paper, and say he is manoeuvring to dodge calls for early elections.

"It's been 50 days of protests. I'm here with my two children, I can't get any milk, I can't get any food," said Mariangel, a 24-year-old businesswoman.

The red, blue and yellow colours of the Venezuelan flag were painted on her face.

Also present were young men carrying makeshift shields of wood and metal and wearing hoods and gas masks.

"This has been a massacre against the people," opposition leader Henrique Capriles said before the march got underway.

"Still, the more repression there is, the more we will resist and fight for Venezuela," said Capriles, one of whose lawyers delivered a report on the Venezuelan crisis Friday to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights after Venezuelan officials "canceled" his passport, preventing him from flying to New York.

Maduro's opponents expressed confidence that the march on Caracas's main motorway would surpass that of Apr 19, the largest so far in seven weeks of demonstrations that have left 47 people dead, hundreds injured, 2,200 detained and some 161 imprisoned by military tribunals.

But so far, Saturday's turnout is nowhere near the hundreds of thousands that marched Apr 19.

On the other side of town, an estimated 2,000 pro-government workers sang and danced as they staged a rival march to show their support for the president's controversial plan to elect a constitutional assembly to rewrite the constitution. Maduro was set to welcome the workers at the Miraflores presidential palace.

Several hundred people rallied in Miami, too, in a show of support for the anti-Maduro movement in Venezuela. Most were Venezuelan or Cuban.

Venezuela is bitterly divided, as locals bridle under all the shortages, soaring inflation - prices could rise by 720 per cent this year, the IMF estimates - and some of the world's highest crime rates.

As protests have turned violent, an increasing number of gunshot wounds have been reported. Federal prosecutors said they are investigating the role of police and military personnel in the incidents.

Some of the shootings took place in Tachira state, near the border with Colombia, where Maduro this week deployed 2,600 soldiers after riots and looting.

Protests have swelled since Maduro called for convening a "popular" assembly to re-write the Venezuelan constitution, with half its members coming from sectors loyal to him.

The opposition says the assembly would allow Maduro to avoid elections. He denies this and has "guaranteed" that presidential elections will be held next year, as required by law.

Maduro insisted Friday that the "popular" assembly would provide a "path to peace, dialogue and consensus," while the opposition, he said, was offering only "violence and death."

Analysts say the opposition's biggest challenge will be to keep their marches peaceful.

Protests succeed only when they are massive and persistent, said Luis Vicente Leon, who heads the Datanalisis polling firm. He warned that when demonstrations turn violent, they "lose impact."

Seven in 10 Venezuelans reject Maduro's leadership, according to private surveys, amid widespread economic devastation aggravated by the drop in the prices of oil - Venezuela's chief revenue source - in 2014.

That has left Maduro heavily dependent on military support.

Opposition protests grew after the country's Supreme Court on Mar 30 assumed some of the functions of the National Assembly.

In Washington, Organization of American States (OAS) head Luis Almagro said that the only way to solve the Venezuelan crisis is for the country to immediately hold general elections.

It is time for "definitive negotiations to agree on terms to reestablish democracy" in Venezuela, Almagro said in a video message.

The high number of fatalities during the protests is the result of "a regime that obstinately refuses to recognise that the only viable exit from the crisis ... is to hold general elections now."</s>CARACAS: More than 200,000 protesters took to the street in Venezuela on Saturday (May 20) on day 50 of an angry and sometimes deadly showdown with unpopular President Nicolas Maduro.

As with many of the previous marches in crisis-hit Venezuela, police fired tear gas as protesters in the capital of the oil rich country suffering from dire shortages of the most basic of goods.

The opposition blames Maduro for the economic mess and wants early elections to replace the Socialist who took over from the late Hugo Chavez. Seven weeks of street protests have left 47 people dead.

In Caracas alone, some 160,000 marched through the city trying to reach the Interior Ministry in the city centre, said Edinson Ferrer, spokesman for the opposition coalition MUD, citing a preliminary estimate.

In the western city of San Cristobal in Tachira state, an estimated 40,000-plus took to the streets. Maduro this week ordered 2,600 soldiers to Tachira to quell street violence and looting.



In Caracas, demonstrators carried signs that read "#We are millions against the dictatorship" and "#No more dictatorship!"



Protesters blame Maduro for Venezuela's acute economic crisis, marked by shortages of food, medicine and such basics as soap and even toilet paper, and say he is maneuvering to dodge calls for early elections.



"It's been 50 days of protests. I'm here with my two children, I can't get any milk, I can't get any food," said Mariangel, a 24-year-old businesswoman.



The red, blue and yellow colours of the Venezuelan flag were painted on her face.



Also present were young men carrying makeshift shields of wood and metal and wearing hoods and gas masks.



"This has been a massacre against the people," opposition leader Henrique Capriles said before the march got underway.



"Still, the more repression there is, the more we will resist and fight for Venezuela," said Capriles, one of whose lawyers delivered a report on the Venezuelan crisis Friday to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights after Venezuelan officials "canceled" his passport, preventing him from flying to New York.



In terms of turnout Saturday's protests came close to the biggest of the seven weeks of protest rallies, when several hundred thousand people came out on April 19. The demonstrations have degenerated into violence which, besides the 47 dead, has left hundreds injured, 2,200 detained and some 161 imprisoned by military tribunals.



On the other side of town, an estimated 2,000 pro-government workers sang and danced as they staged a rival march to show their support for the president's controversial plan to elect a constitutional assembly to rewrite the constitution.



Maduro had been scheduled to welcome the workers at the Miraflores presidential palace, but in the end the marchers did not see the president.



Venezuela is bitterly divided, as locals bridle under all the shortages, soaring inflation - prices could rise by 720 percent this year, the IMF estimates - and some of the world's highest crime rates.



As protests have turned violent, an increasing number of gunshot wounds have been reported. Federal prosecutors said they are investigating the role of police and military personnel in the incidents.

Some of the shootings took place in Tachira state, near the border with Colombia, where Maduro this week deployed 2,600 soldiers after riots and looting.



Protests have swelled since Maduro called for convening a "popular" assembly to rewrite the Venezuelan constitution, with half its members coming from sectors loyal to him.



The opposition says the assembly would allow Maduro to avoid elections. He denies this and has "guaranteed" that presidential elections will be held next year, as required by law.



Maduro insisted Friday that the "popular" assembly would provide a "path to peace, dialogue and consensus," while the opposition, he said, was offering only "violence and death."



Analysts say the opposition's biggest challenge will be to keep their marches peaceful.

Protests succeed only when they are massive and persistent, said Luis Vicente Leon, who heads the Datanalisis polling firm. He warned that when demonstrations turn violent, they "lose impact."



Seven in 10 Venezuelans reject Maduro's leadership, according to private surveys, amid widespread economic devastation aggravated by the drop in the prices of oil - Venezuela's chief revenue source - in 2014.



That has left Maduro heavily dependent on military support.



Opposition protests grew after the country's Supreme Court on Mar 30 assumed some of the functions of the National Assembly.</s>Shannon, 57, who led a similar rapprochement last year that stalled over imprisoned protest leader Leopoldo Lopez, also met with opposition figures and civil society activists on his short visit to Caracas.

During 17 years of socialist rule under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez, Venezuela has replaced Cuba as Washington's principle irritant in the Americas.

The United States is backing an opposition push to hold a "fair and timely" referendum this year that could see Maduro ousted. However, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry agreed in talks with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez last week to re-start dialogue.

Shannon and Maduro, 53, met after lunch in the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas. Maduro then took to the stage in front of thousands of supporters in the capital city.

"It's never too late," he told them, clad in a shirt and blazer rather than his usual tracksuit or baggy shirt. "I hope President Obama will rectify the position he has held the last eight years against the revolution."

Their meeting came the day before the Organisation of American States was to discuss a proposal by its head, Luis Almagro, to invoke the regional body's Democratic Charter, which could eventually lead to a vote on suspending Venezuela.

Maduro attacked opposition congress head Henry Ramos for his involvement in the meeting.

"Mr (Ramos) takes his private jet and goes to Washington to conspire against his own country," he said during the televised speech.

Shannon met with Ramos on Tuesday afternoon, as well as Henrique Capriles, the two-time presidential candidate who lost to both Chavez and Maduro and is now spearheading the push for a referendum.

Maduro may be hoping the meeting eases international pressure on him, analysts and diplomats said, while Washington likely calculates a rapprochement undermines Venezuela's constant blame on "imperialist" foes for the nation's problems.

"Kerry indicated last week that the U.S. wants to see a recall referendum this year, and bilateral talks will help to offset what would otherwise be fodder for Maduro to declare that the U.S. is trying to overthrow his regime," the Eurasia consultancy group said.

Shannon, a former U.S. ambassador to Brazil and current Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs who speaks Spanish and Portuguese, was likely to press for the release of jailed opponents including Lopez.

He is also expected to push for internationally mediated talks between Maduro's government and the opposition to try and ease political strains behind the crisis.

The Venezuelan opposition leader was sentenced to nearly 14 years for instigating 2014 anti-Maduro protests that led to violence killing 43 people across both sides.

Rights groups and government critics say the trial was a farce.

After meeting Shannon on Tuesday, Capriles said Maduro was seeking to use dialogue to buy himself time due to his inability to solve Venezuela's worsening economic crisis.

"Someone who has not eaten for five days cannot wait for dialogue," he said, referring to widespread food shortages around the nation of 30 million people. "We're not here for photo ops. Venezuela doesn't have time for that."

Since Chavez took office in 1999, Venezuela and the United States have gone through cycles of diplomatic fighting followed by generally short-lived eras of reconciliation.

They have been without ambassadors since 2010.

Through it all, Venezuela has kept oil flowing north uninterrupted, and is the third biggest U.S. supplier after Saudi Arabia and Canada, according to the latest U.S. data.</s>CARACAS, Venezuela — Massive demonstrations, violence and a rising death toll marked 50 consecutive days of anti-government protests in Venezuela.

Hundreds marched on Saturday along Caracas’s Francisco Fajardo highway, one of city’s major routes, while some flanked a gigantic sign that read “Elections Now” over an overpass.

“Fifty days facing threats, tear gas and pellets. Fifty days in which we have transformed fear into courage and strength,” opposition leader Miguel Pizarro wrote on Twitter.

Anti-government protesters want new elections and have called for President Nicolas Maduro’s resignation. The government has repeatedly blocked any attempts to oust Maduro from power by a referendum vote. It has also delayed local and state elections.

Since March 29, opposition leaders have faced off with Maduro and his supporters, accusing him of imposing a dictatorship.

Protests turned violent in Caracas later on Saturday when demonstrators and police clashed surrounded by a mix of tear gas and exploding Molotov cocktails.

Video footage shows dozens of protesters wearing helmets, bandanas and gas masks as they run through the streets. Military tanks rolled down the streets with gas canisters hurling up in the air.

As small explosions erupted, medics were seen carrying the injured to nearby ambulances.

It’s unclear how many people were injured but more than 950 have been injured in Venezuela since the protests began, the country’s attorney general’s office said Saturday.

Family and friends buried 15-year-old Francisco Guerrero, a boy who was killed late last week amid protests in Venezuela’s western state of Tachira.

At the cemetery, Guerrero’s coffin — draped in a Venezuela flag — was carried to his last stop on Saturday while a song with lyrics “they killed an innocent” were played.

The teen was at a market in an area where anti-government protests were happening when he was shot in the abdomen, according to Venezuela’s attorney general’s office.

His family has accused the National Guard of the shooting.

Some 2,000 National Guard troops and 600 special operations forces were deployed to Tachira last week as part of what the government calls a strategy to protect and defend the nation.

Guerrero’s death is one of 47 protest-related deaths that the attorney general’s office is investigating.

Some deaths have been linked to both opposition and pro-government protests while others happened during acts of vandalism unrelated to the political unrest.

Members of Miami’s Latin American community gathered Saturday in a rally condemning dictatorships in Venezuela and Cuba.

Dozens gathered at Jose Marti Park in Little Havana waving Venezuelan, Cuban and American flags.

“We hope Trump blocks the oil of Maduro,” said Carlos Fernandez. “That will throw down not only Maduro, but also Castro.”

The rally comes a few days after the US Treasury Department issued sanctions on eight members of Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice and barred American citizens from engaging in any financial transactions with them.</s>Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Venezuela on Saturday to mark 50 days of protests against the government of President Nicholas Maduro.

 In Caracas alone, some 160,000 marched through the city, said Edinson Ferrer, a spokesman for the opposition, citing a preliminary estimate.

 Protesters brandished placards that read “We are millions against the dictatorship” and “No more dictatorship”.

 Many Venezuelans are furious with Maduro’s government, blaming it for soaring inflation, shortages of food and medicine, and a crackdown on human rights. They are demanding elections and autonomy for the opposition-led legislature.

 Two-time presidential candidate and de facto opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, led the Caracas march.

 “Fifty days and they’ve assassinated 50 people… Despite everything, on day 50, amid more repression, there is more resistance and more fight for Venezuela,” he said.

 As with many of the previous marches, police firing tear gas broke up the demonstration and protesters responded by throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails. Many young men wore hoods and gas masks and carried makeshift shields of wood and metal.

 One man was set on fire during the rally by people who accused him of stealing, the Reuters news agency said.

 n the volatile border city of San Cristobal in Tachira state, more than 40,000 people took to the streets. Maduro had sent in 2,600 soldiers there after a week of mayhem that included looting.

 “We don’t want more deaths. We want salaries that mean something, and medicines. The government invests more in bullets and weapons than in food and education for this country,” said Maria Diaz, a 33-year-old lawyer, standing in the torrential rain in front of security forces.

 The turnout for Saturday’s demonstrations came close to the biggest rally during seven weeks of protests, when several hundred thousand people came out on April 19.

 The demonstrations have degenerated into violence that has left 47 dead, hundreds injured, 2,200 detained and some 161 imprisoned by military tribunals.

 On Thursday, the US imposed sanctions on the chief judge and seven other members of Venezuela’s Supreme Court and President Donald Trump described Venezuela’s humanitarian situation as “a disgrace to humanity.”

 Maduro responded by telling Trump to stop meddling in Venezuela’s affairs. Russian President Vladimir Putin contacted Maduro via phone and said the Venezuelan people have the right to determine their own future without foreign interventions.</s>Opposition supporters clash with riot security forces while rallying against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, May 20, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

CARACAS/SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets on Saturday to mark 50 days of protests against the unpopular government of President Nicolas Maduro, with unrest gaining momentum despite a rising death toll and chaotic scenes of nighttime looting.

At least 46 people have been killed in the worst turmoil faced by Maduro since he won the presidency in 2013. Venezuelans from civilians to police have been killed, sometimes during increasingly frequent spates of looting or street melees.

Many Venezuelans are furious with Maduro's government, blaming it for soaring inflation, shortages of everything from food to medicine, and a crackdown on human rights. They are demanding elections, freedom for jailed activists, foreign aid, and autonomy for the opposition-led legislature.

Major opposition marches took place across the oil-rich nation of 30 million on Saturday, with protesters in Caracas brandishing placards that read “No More dictatorship in Venezuela” while in the volatile border city of San Cristobal masked youths threw rocks, and a Reuters witness saw two protesters wielding machetes.

The Andean area near Colombia suffered a week of mayhem that included looting, prompting the government to send in 2,000 troops.

"We don't want more deaths. We want salaries that mean something, and medicines. The government invests more in bullets and weapons than in food and education for this country," said Maria Diaz, a 33-year-old lawyer standing in the torrential rain in front of security forces with some 8,000 other protesters in San Cristobal.

Opposition protesters say the government is trying to maintain its grip on power despite the economic crisis. More than 2,600 protesters have been arrested across the country, more than a third of whom remain detained, according to a local rights group.

The government, which says protesters are trying to foment a coup beneath pro-democracy rhetoric, held a counter-march in Caracas, with thousands of red-clad supporters singing and dancing. Officials frequently pop up on state television with photos of vandalized stores and blocked roads that they blame on the opposition.

In recent weeks, protesters have thrown everything from excrement to petrol bombs at security forces, who have used tear gas and rubber bullets to block marches. Opposition lawmakers have joined protesters, often facing tear gas themselves.

"Fifty days and they've assassinated 50 people... Despite everything, on day 50, amid more repression, there is more resistance and more fight for Venezuela," said Capriles, surrounded by supporters.

He was recently barred from holding public office for 15 years and said this week that his passport was confiscated before a flight to New York, where he was set to visit the United Nations and denounce human rights violations.

On Thursday, the United States imposed sanctions on the chief judge and seven other members of Venezuela's Supreme Court and President Donald Trump described Venezuela's humanitarian situation as "a disgrace to humanity."

Maduro responded by telling Trump to stop meddling in Venezuela's affairs.</s>Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro delivered his most scathing critique of U.S. President Donald Trump yet Friday, telling him to stop intervening and “get your pig hands out of here.”

Speaking before a crowd of supporters, a fired-up Maduro accused Trump of promoting an interventionist policy that infringes on his socialist government’s sovereignty.

“Go home, Donald Trump!” he said in heavily accented English.

The remarks come a day after the Trump administration slapped sanctions against eight members of Venezuela’s Supreme Court, accusing them of damaging the nation’s democracy. A ruling by the court in late March stripping the opposition-controlled assembly of its remaining powers ignited a deadly wave of unrest.

While Venezuelan leaders have lashed out at U.S. presidents frequently in the past, Maduro had largely been careful not to antagonize Trump. But Trump’s repeated criticisms of the troubled South American nation appear to have struck a nerve.

Speaking alongside Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Thursday, Trump expressed dismay at Venezuela’s crisis, asking how a country holding the nation’s largest oil reserves could be stricken by so much poverty and turmoil.

Trump described Venezuela’s current state as a “disgrace to humanity.”

Nearly two months of street protests throughout Venezuela have left at least 46 people dead. Demonstrators are demanding new elections and blaming Maduro for the nation’s triple-digit inflation, rising crimes and vast food shortages.

Maduro is pushing to resolve the crisis by convening a special assembly to rewrite the nation’s constitution. That proposal has been rejected by the opposition, and on Friday, a letter by the nation’s chief prosecutor, Luisa Ortega Diaz, a long-time government loyalist, made it clear that she will not support it either.

Ortega Diaz broke with the government shortly after the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling in March, calling it a “rupture” of the constitutional order. Days later Congress partially reversed its decision amid international outcry.

In her letter, Ortega Diaz hailed the country’s 1999 constitution as one of the most advanced in the world and a best legacy of the late President Hugo Chavez. She said that far from resolving the nation’s current crisis, convoking the special assembly would likely only serve to further accelerate the nation’s upheaval.

“It’s not necessary, pertinent, or convenient to carry out a transformation of the state in the terms that a new constitution could imply,” she wrote.

Maduro said Friday the constitution rewrite would proceed.

Trump’s sanctions and comments against Venezuelan officials played to the government’s longstanding accusations of U.S. imperialism in Latin American affairs. Maikel Moreno, the president of Venezuela’s Supreme Court, and among those sanctioned by the U.S. government, said Friday that Trump’s executive order was an attempt to impose its authority over Venezuela’s institutions and compromise the judicial branch’s independence.

“Get your hands out of here,” Maduro said to the U.S. president. “Get your pig hands out of here!”
Marking the 50th consecutive day of protests, hundreds of thousands demonstrate throughout Venezuela against President Nicolás Maduro, with civil unrest growing despite the increasing number of casualties.