CARACAS — An anti-government strike paralyzed parts of Venezuela Thursday as the nation’s crisis risked spiraling ahead of a contentious vote that many fear could move the country further down the path of authoritarian rule.
President Nicolás Maduro played down the strike, and some areas in the capital and elsewhere remained relatively unaffected. But in many districts, a large number of businesses were shuttered and protesters blocked roads as the opposition sought to stage Venezuela’s largest general strike since 2002.
In Caracas, the strike was most pronounced in the eastern neighborhoods, a middle- and upper-middle-class bastion. There were also reports of government troops firing tear gas at demonstrators and strikers. In the western city of Maracaibo, witnesses reported closures and said National Guard forces lobbed tear gas at protesters.
‘‘We put up the barricade early, around 5 a.m. . . . The objective is that no one goes to work, that people stay home for 24 hours,’’ said Caracas resident Edmond Fakrhi, 55. ‘‘We want liberty, we want democracy, we want everyone to have access to food.’’
The effort unfolded as Maduro’s unpopular socialist government faced escalating international pressure to back off the special election on July 30. The vote would elect a body to rewrite the 1999 constitution and further squelch the opposition-controlled National Assembly in a move widely viewed by critics as a power grab.
The Trump administration, pressed by prominent US lawmakers, is weighing sanctions up to and including bans on Venezuela’s all-important oil exports if the vote is not called off. In an official report, Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States, said Wednesday that there are fears the situation in Venezuela ‘‘will escalate into a bloodbath.’’
‘‘The reluctance of the international community to act in defense of democracy has allowed the situation to deteriorate incrementally but consistently, to the point where today it has become a full-blown humanitarian and security crisis,’’ Almagro later said at a US Senate hearing. ‘‘Every step of the way it has been too little and too late.’’
Pressure was building inside Venezuela, too. The last time the opposition called for a general strike was in October, but that effort did not elicit the widespread street closures seen Thursday. In 2002, a prolonged national strike failed to oust President Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013 and had anointed Maduro as his successor.
Unlike the wide popularity enjoyed by Chávez, support for Maduro is fast eroding amid food and medical shortages and runaway inflation.
On Sunday, the opposition carried out an unofficial referendum in which more than 7 million voters rejected the government’s bid to draw up a new constitution and demanded national elections. This week, the opposition pledged to form a transitional government as part of its effort to force new elections.
On the streets of Caracas Thursday, Alfredo, a 17-year-old who did not give his last name, put up a barricade with his friends at 6 a.m. ‘‘We’re tired,’’ he said. ‘‘We have to take to the streets. And people should do it even if leaders don’t do it. I’m here every day, and I’ll be here today, all day.’’
Officials, however, deemed the strike a failure. ‘‘The 700 most important businesses in the country are 100 percent working,’’ Maduro said on TV. ‘‘Today, work triumphed.’’
The president of the national federation of transportation workers, however, called the strike ‘‘an absolute success.’’
‘‘In Caracas, I’d say almost 90 percent of transportation isn’t functioning, the terminals are paralyzed,’’ said Erick Zuleta, the union leader. ‘‘Buses and cars owned by the government are working, but those affiliated to us aren’t.’’
The precise course that the Trump administration will take remains unclear. On Monday, President Trump called Maduro a ‘‘bad leader’’ and threatened ‘‘strong and swift’’ sanctions if the July 30 vote is not called off.
People familiar with the discussions say administration hawks are at odds with officials at the State and Energy departments over just how broad those sanctions should be.
