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WORLD NEWSWednesday 6 January 2016
Venezuela opposition controls congress after 17 years Caribbean Briefs
HANNAH DREIER tame compared to the shouted as the incoming dent economy out of a tail- Haiti election chief
JOSHUA GOODMAN chanting and shoving in- parliamentary president, spin marked by triple-digit claims runoff can’t
Associated Press side the chamber. Henry Ramos, muscled his inflation and the world’s be held by Jan. 17
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Reflecting the changing way through the crowd. deepest recession.
— Venezuela’s opposition political winds, journalists “There’s a criminal conspir- What unites the two fac- PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)
took majority control of the were granted access to acy running the country; tions is an agenda of prob- — Haiti’s elections chief
National Assembly on Tues- the legislature for the first you can’t negotiate with ing government corruption says it will be “impossible”
day after years in the po- to hold a presidential and
litical wilderness, setting the Opposition legislators pose for a group photo on the steps of the National Assembly entrance, legislative runoff in time
stage for a potential power after attending their swearing-in ceremony, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016. Ven- for a democratic transfer
struggle with embattled ezuela’s opposition was sworn in as the majority during a heated parliamentary session that saw of power by the constitu-
President Nicolas Maduro. pro-government representatives walk out in protest after pushing and shoving their way onto the tional deadline. Outgoing
Lawmakers were sworn in dais as the new leadership laid out its legislative agenda. President Michel Martelly
during a heated parlia- announced last week that
mentary session that saw (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) Haiti’s Provisional Electoral
pro-government represen- Council was warning that
tatives walk out in protest time in years and state TV criminals.” Opposition law- and freeing opposition fig- the runoff must be held by
after pushing their way broadcast interviews with makers promise sweeping ures that they and many Jan. 17 to fulfill the constitu-
onto the dais as the new opposition leaders. Con- changes, while the social- human rights groups con- tional mandate of inaugu-
leadership tried to lay out spicuously absent inside ists have been equally ad- sider political prisoners. It’s rating a new president Feb.
its legislative agenda. the domed building were amant that the legislature a polarizing issue that also 7. But in a Monday letter to
It’s the first time in 17 years the oversize portraits of not erode social gains of promises to rally govern- Martelly, Council President
that opponents of the so- Chavez giving a salute and Chavez’s revolution. ment supporters. Pierre-Louis Opont said
cialist revolution begun by independence hero Simon The 72-year-old Ramos, “It’s completely illogical,” they would need more
the late President Hugo Bolivar that had been a fix- a sharp-tongued, pre- the outgoing National As- time. He says 12 days of
Chavez have controlled ture for years. Chavez-era politician who sembly president, Diosda- preparation “will not be
the legislature, and many Instead, from the public beat out moderates in the do Cabello, said of the pro- sufficient to complete the
leaders seemed rapt in gallery, the wife of jailed opposition coalition to take posed amnesty law. “It’s process.”q
disbelief. The opposition opposition leader Leop- the president’s gavel, reit- like the assassins pardoning
won a two-thirds majority oldo Lopez held up a sign erated in his inaugural re- themselves.” Dominican troops
in a landslide election vic- reading “Amnesty Now,” marks his commitment to Jennifer McCoy, a long- reinforce border
tory last month, giving it referring to what’s likely to six-month deadline to re- time observer of Venezuela as migrants return
unprecedented strength to be the legislature’s first or- move Maduro by constitu- elections for a pro-democ-
challenge Maduro’s rule. der of business: a law free- tional means, echoing de- racy group founded by SANTO DOMINGO, Domini-
But that key super-majority ing dozens of activists jailed mands made by hard-liners formerU.S. President Jimmy can Republic (AP) — The
is now in doubt after a gov- during anti-government during the 2014 protests. Carter, said the coming Dominican Republic has
ernment-stacked Supreme protests in 2014 that result- Moderates have criticized weeks will tell whether the sent hundreds of soldiers
Court barred four lawmak- ed in dozens of deaths. that strategy and instead government and opposi- to its border with Haiti to
ers from taking their seats “Keep a strong hand!” advocate pragmatic steps tion can put aside their mu- make it harder for migrants
at the last minute while it 65-year-old Mary Mujica to wrench the oil-depen- tual hatred.q without legal residency to
considers allegations of enter the country after re-
electoral fraud. As a result, turning home to spend the
only 163 of 167 lawmakers holidays. A contingent of
were sworn in during Tues- 900 troops was dispatched
day’s ceremony. as part of what officials are
Earlier in the day, hundreds calling “Operation Shield.”
of opposition support- They were joining about
ers accompanied the in- 1,200 soldiers already as-
coming lawmakers past a signed to patrol the area
heavy military barricade to that divides the island of
the neoclassical legislature Hispaniola. The deploy-
downtown. A few blocks ment announced Tuesday
away, a much larger is part of a broader crack-
crowd of government sup- down on illegal immigra-
porters gathered outside tion. Last year, the gov-
the presidential palace to ernment issued residency
lament the inauguration permits to 184,000 people
of what they call a “bour- who could prove they had
geois parliament” intent on been living in the country
“legislating slavery.” since before October 2011.
The dueling marches were
