Maduro executes 'self-coup' as Venezuela loses China's support

President Nicolás Maduro is riding roughshod over Venezuela’s constitution by not sending the 2017 budget to the National Assembly while China’s $65bn loans to the country arelooking more and more precariousVenezuela’s political crisis continues to deepen, with PresidentNicolás Maduro’s refusal to send Venezuela’s 2017 budget to theNational Assembly or set a date for state elections nothing short of a “self­coup”, according to Luis Nunes, a Venezuelan political scientist. “We are faced with a government that is increasingly outside the law. Maduro is disregarding the constitution at will,” Nunes told GlobalMarkets. More…