CARACAS: President Nicolas Maduro said that controversial plans to re-write Venezuela’s constitution will move ahead “now more than ever” following US President Donald Trump’s threat of economic sanctions. An unofficial plebiscite held by opponents to the leftist regime over weekend saw 7.6 million voters—out of an electorate of 19 million—reject the planned Constituent Assembly and support early elections. Venezuela, which is almost entirely reliant on its oil exports for revenues, ships a third of its crude production to the United States. Maduro defiant“There is no power in this world that can break the will to be free and independent,” a defiant Maduro told the Defense Council, a gathering of most senior government officials. “Now more than ever” Venezuela will proceed with the Constituent Assembly, he said.

Source: Manila Times July 19, 2017 14:48 UTC