Challenges Big and Small in Venezuela to Maduro’s Constituent Assembly

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio told the embattled administration of Nicolas Maduro Tuesday to “expect severe U.S. sanctions if "constituent assembly" happens”, posing the biggest challenge yet to the President’s initiative to ditch the present Constitution and write a new one to replace it. “Reconciliation possible in #Venezuela if Maduro follows this path. But expect severe U.S. sanctions if "constituent assembly" happens”, Rubio, who has repeatedly shown concern about the Venezuelan situation, said in one of four tweets he devoted to the crisis in the oil-rich nation Tuesday. However, Rubio’s challenge is not the only one Maduro is facing. The normally pliant CNE electoral board admitted a challenge Monday by a group of dissenting “chavistas” that aims to have the Constituent Assembly vote, scheduled for July 30th, stopped or at least altered, Maduro cabinet minister Wilmar Castro Soteldo said during a television interview. More…