Venezuela lets anti-Maduro referendum advance

Venezuelan authorities have announced the next stage of a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro in an olive branch to protesters. 

The electoral council on Friday announced plans to begin a process of confirming the identities of 1.3 million people whose signatures have been validated on a petition for the referendum to oust Maduro.

Maduro's camp, however, said it would go to the Supreme Court to contest the process, accusing the opposition of fraud while gathering the signatures needed to call a referendum.

Wading into the wrangling, the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington announced a special session of its permanent council on June 23 which is likely to eject Venezuela from the body.

Maduro has accused OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro of working with Venezuela's opposition and the US government to undermine his administration.

Last week, Cuban President Raul Castro called the OAS an "instrument of imperialist domination," saying his country will never return to the body.

The decision to let the recall move ahead came with a warning from Venezuela’s National Electoral Council president, Tibisay Lucena, who said the proceedings would be halted if there was any violence.

She said voters should turn up at electoral offices to confirm their identities between June 20 and 24.

For the referendum to be successful, an equal or greater number of voters than those who elected President Maduro would have to vote in favor of the recall. Maduro won Venezuela’s 2013 election with 7,587,579 votes.

The government's submission came after protests turned violent Thursday and left a prominent lawmaker bloodied and beaten.

But the man in charge of overseeing the process, Jorge Rodriguez, vowed to go to the Supreme Court to stop what he called "this crime against the constitution."

He said the opposition's petition, submitted on May 2 with 1.8 million signatures, included dead people, children and others ineligible to sign.

Protests, looting and violent crime have been mounting in Venezuela as the country reels from shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity.

On Thursday, police fired tear gas to break up a protest led by lawmakers in the opposition-majority congress.

Apart from Maduro, other leftist leaders in Latin America are engaged in a battle with opposition parties, including Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff who is suspended from office amid a corruption probe. 

"We can't remain indifferent before this turbulence in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is a consequence of an imperialist and oligarchic counteroffensive against popular and progressive governments," Castro told a summit of Caribbean countries in Havana last week.

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