Venezuela's opposition refuses to help draft new constitution

Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), the opposition alliance of crisis-hit Venezuela, will not participate in the drafting of a new constitution, MUD leader Henrique Capriles announced Sunday.

"The Democratic Unity ... will not go to Miraflores (presidential palace)," said Capriles in a video address, in response to President Nicolas Maduro's invitation for the opposition to join in a National Constituent Assembly (ANC) on Monday.H He blasted Maduro's government for seeking to "change the internal judicial order," and called the proposal for a new constitution a "fraud."

"There is a Constitution here. If the government wants to overrule it through force, it is wrong," he added, slamming the government "for not submitting to an electoral process."

Capriles also said the opposition would march on Monday, bringing "together thousands of Venezuelans" to deliver a document of rejection to Elias Jaua, which leads the government efforts concerning the ANC.

"If Mr. Maduro insists on calling for a constitutional process, the Venezuelan people must decide" in a referendum, he said.

The ruling socialist party and the right-wing opposition have been locked in a bitter power struggle, causing violent anti-government protests that have killed 37 people since April 1.

On May 1, Maduro called for the creation of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution as a way out of the political impasse. Endi