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Removal of Chávez Images From Venezuela Capitol Raises Tension

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Removal of Chávez Portraits

The new head of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Henry Ramos, had all of the portraits of former President Hugo Chávez removed from the National Assembly, saying it’s time for the country to move on.

CARACAS, VENEZUELA // 2. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELA’S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT, HENRY RAMOS ALLUP, SAYING: “Take these (Chavez portraits) to Sabaneta (Chavez’s birth place), take them to the daughters, the widows. This place is not a cemetery and that fake Simon Bolivar, that should go too (referring to Bolivar portrait ordered by Chavez), that was an invention of that man (Chavez), a strange thing. Take away all that stuff from here. I don’t want to see a single portrait here that is not a classic image of the Liberator. I don’t want to see Chavez or Maduro. Take all that to Miraflores (government headquarters) or throw in the toilet, but nothing stays.” // 11. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELA’S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT, HENRY RAMOS ALLUP, SAYING: “What we did was we fixed an abuse. Because as long as I am the president of the National Assembly, the only portrait we will have of any notable individuals, will be the original portrait of Simon Bolivar.”

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The new head of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Henry Ramos, had all of the portraits of former President Hugo Chávez removed from the National Assembly, saying it’s time for the country to move on.CreditCredit...Miguel Gutierrez/European Pressphoto Agency

CARACAS, Venezuela — With triple-digit inflation showing no signs of retreating and the new National Assembly vowing to remove the president, Venezuela over the last few days careered toward crises both economic and political.

Yet the great debate of the week had less to do with the economy than it did with former President Hugo Chávez — or rather whether several pictures of Mr. Chávez, who died in 2013 of cancer, should still hang in the Capitol.

The portraits, of a triumphal Mr. Chávez in military attire and addressing the United Nations, were carted away this week as rivals of his United Socialist Party, who were swept into the Assembly in a Dec. 6 vote, moved into the chamber.

Henry Ramos, the Assembly’s incoming leader, stood on the Capitol steps and waved as the images of Mr. Chávez were taken away. He told reporters that only the country’s flag and shield should be displayed.

President Nicolás Maduro, Mr. Chávez’s handpicked successor, wasted no time in trying to turn his opponents’ symbolic gesture to his advantage. In a nationally televised speech on Wednesday evening, he called the removals outrageous, and said that portraits of Simon Bolívar, the country’s independence hero, had also been taken down.

“I can’t fail to express my anger, my repudiation,” Mr. Maduro said. “I call on the people to rebel against these neo-fascists, anti-Bolivarians, anti-patriots.”

On Thursday, a number of demonstrators assembled at a downtown plaza, heeding the president’s call. The Chávez portraits were brought there and guarded by soldiers.

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A man in Caracas, Venezuela, shouted slogans against lawmakers as he stood next to a picture of Mr. Chávez this week.Credit...Fernando Llano/Associated Press

The spat over the portraits could augur poorly for Venezuela’s political prospects in the new year, the country’s first taste of a divided government where disputes boil up as the economy continues its meltdown. Venezuela has the largest estimated oil reserves in the world, yet price controls and inflation have led to shortages of basic items like eggs and flour. Fears about rising crime also weigh heavily on the minds of the middle class and the poor alike.

“I think it doesn’t bode very well at all,” said David Smilde, a Caracas-based analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a think tank. “It doesn’t reflect that either side has really heard the message of the people.”

The opposition, which won a majority last year in the Assembly for the first time in 16 years, won on promises to solve the country’s economic problems. Next week, however, it will focus on something else: freeing about 80 prisoners who it says were arrested by the Socialist authorities for political reasons.

The new lawmakers also seemed poised for another showdown after they swore in three lawmakers whose elections had been blocked by the Supreme Court. They argue that the court, packed by the government in December with 13 new members, was doing the political bidding of Mr. Maduro.

Gaby Arellano, a new deputy from Popular Will, a political party whose leader has been jailed under Mr. Maduro, said legislators would soon address economic issues but warned that change would come slowly.

“We left it clear that we would not arrive on Jan. 6 and all the problems would be solved on Jan. 7,” she said. “If the government has spent all this time taking apart the country, it’s not going to be a question of months, but a question of years, in fixing this.”

Mr. Maduro said that in the coming days he would unveil a new plan to revive the economy. There would be a new emphasis on foreign investment, he said, offering few details.

After discussing the portraits in his broadcast, the president turned to some changes in his economic team, which will be led by Luis Salas, a little-known professor at a university founded by Mr. Chávez. He is a sociologist and specialist in development, according to an essay called “22 Keys to Understanding and Combating the Economic War” that was published last year.

“Inflation doesn’t exist in real life,” Mr. Salas wrote, arguing that inflation was actually the product of businessmen’s raising prices on consumers. “When a person goes to a store and finds the prices have gone up, they are not in the presence of ‘inflation.’ ”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Removal of Chávez Images From Venezuela Capitol Raises Tension. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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