Maduro must go by 2016, says Venezuelan opposition leader

Venezuela’s opposition is seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro by mid-2016, jailed dissident Leopoldo Lopez said Tuesday as the country headed toward legislative elections that the ruling socialists risk losing. “This can’t wait until the presidential elections in 2019,” Lopez said in a message datelined from his prison cell and posted to a Twitter account managed by his wife. “Political change has a date in Venezuela and it is the first half of 2016.” The 44-year-old opposition leader said that if Maduro did not resign, his movement would seek to remove the president from office with a referendum or by changing the constitution. Under Venezuelan law, elected officials can be recalled by referendum halfway through their terms — a milestone Maduro will reach in April. More…