Venezuela Opposition to Use 'all Means' to Oust Maduro

Venezuela's opposition called Tuesday for the "largest movement that has ever existed" to oust President Nicolas Maduro, vowing to pursue all means to force him from power, including a referendum and protests.

The opposition, which has been on a collision course with Maduro since winning control of the legislature in December, spent weeks deciding on its strategy to remove the deeply unpopular socialist president -- whether through a referendum, a constitutional amendment or the drafting of a new constitution.

In the end, it announced its plan was all of the above, and more.

It placed special emphasis on its call for protests, starting from Saturday -- a potentially explosive path for the crisis-racked country, after anti-government demonstrations in 2014 left 43 people dead.

"The Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) has taken the unanimous decision to call on the Venezuelan people to launch the largest popular pressure movement that has ever existed, to activate all -- I repeat, all -- mechanisms for change," said the opposition coalition's executive secretary, Jesus Torrealba.

That, he said, includes organizing a recall referendum, which enables voters to remove elected officials midway through their terms -- six years, in the case of the president.

Maduro was elected in April 2013, a month after succeeding his mentor Hugo Chavez following his death from cancer. He reaches the midway point on his term next month.

Torrealba said the opposition will also use its legislative majority to draft a constitutional amendment reducing the presidential term.

He said they would also consider calling a constitutional assembly to draft a new constitution "if the government persists in its irresponsible practice of trying to block the constitutional mechanisms for a peaceful solution to the crisis."

Political analysts say all the constitutional options face likely rejection by the Supreme Court or the National Electoral Council, both of which the opposition accuses Maduro of packing with allies.

The Supreme Court has struck down the opposition's powerful two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and dealt it a series of other blows.

Torrealba told journalists the constitution has been "kidnapped by the regime" in collusion with the high court.

"In the face of this reality, (the opposition) calls for an intense and peaceful national movement to win back the full force of the constitution and rescue democracy," he said.

The opposition's landslide win in December's legislative elections is the biggest challenge yet to the socialist "revolution" Chavez launched in 1999.

The institutional power struggle comes against the backdrop of a crippling economic crisis exacerbated by the crash in the price of oil, which long funded Chavez and Maduro's lavish social spending and subsidies.

Despite holding the world's largest oil reserves, Venezuela's economy contracted 5.7 percent last year, its second year of recession.

The crisis has stoked outrage in Venezuela, where chronic shortages of basic goods and soaring prices have become the norm.

"We can't bear this anymore. We are the victims of the worst crisis in the country's history. Nothing works. That's why Venezuela has chosen the path of change," said Torrealba.