Venezuela's president and Supreme Court backed down Saturday from a surprise move to strip congress of its legislative powers that had sparked widespread charges that the South American country was no longer a democracy. Troops from the National Guard fired buckshot and swung batons at students protesting in front of the Supreme Court, and several journalists had their cameras seized. As some analysts began to protect the beginning of the end of 18 years of socialist rule in Venezuela, Maduro invited congress president Julio Borges to speak with him about the situation. Maduro, dressed in black and waving a small blue book containing the Venezuelan constitution, likened the international condemnation of the week's Supreme Court decision to a "political lynching." The South American trade bloc Mercosur, which suspended Venezuela in December, called an emergency meeting for Saturday in Argentina.

Source: Fox News April 01, 2017 15:00 UTC