CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro faces renewed pressure Friday as the opposition calls for a nationwide strike, which he has threatened to break with army takeovers of paralyzed firms.
Up in arms over the authorities' decision to block a referendum on removing Maduro from power, the opposition has declared a 12-hour general strike, threatening to exacerbate the shortages of food and basic goods gripping the country.
"This is a call to a citizens' strike for the people: to leave streets and workplaces empty... to pressure the government to obey the constitution and respect our right to choose," the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) said in a statement.
The strike is scheduled to start at 6:00 am (1000 GMT).
The center-right coalition's latest move to pressure the unpopular leftist leader comes after anti-government protests drew hundreds of thousands of people on Wednesday.
Maduro has vowed to respond forcefully.
"If a company stops, it will be taken over," he said Thursday in a televised speech.
He also extended a carrot to the struggling workers who have served as his socialist party's traditional base: a 40 percent increase in the minimum wage, to the equivalent of about $140 a month.
But economic analysts called that a drop in the bucket for a country the International Monetary Fund says is facing inflation of 475 percent this year, rising to 1,660 percent next year.
And a wage hike may only add fuel to the inflationary fire.
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