Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro threatened businesses considering joining a planned national strike Friday, saying those which participated in the opposition-led action would face seizure by the socialist government, according to dpa. "A business stopped is a business reclaimed by the worker class," Maduro said, adding that inspectors would visit industrial, agricultural and pharmaceutical businesses to monitor their compliance. In a televised speech, Maduro also promised to hike the minimum wage 40 per cent. Tensions in the country have surged in recent days after a months-long standoff over progress in calling a referendum to remove Maduro from office. Electoral authorities last week suspended the process, the second stage of which had been scheduled to begin Wednesday, and set off an escalation in the already heated conflict between Maduro's government and the opposition United Democracy Roundtable (MUD) coalition, which controls the country's National Assembly. On Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets for massive nationwide anti-government protests, which in some cases led to violent clashes that left more than 120 people reported injured and 147 under arrest. Authorities also said they were investigating the fatal shooting of a police officer. MUD leaders called a general strike for October 28, and threatened a mass march on the presidential palace on November 3 unless the recall vote process moves ahead. The National Assembly has charged Maduro with breaching the constitution and has ordered a "political trial" of the president to begin Tuesday. Government loyalists call the action an unconstitutional coup attempt, and have said Maduro will not cooperate. The future of crisis talks planned for Sunday was unclear. A former bus driver and union leader, Maduro took office in 2013 as the hand-picked successor to late president Hugo Chavez. He has struggled as a drop in world oil prices has ravaged Venezuela's petroleum-dependent economy. The country has the highest inflation rate in the world according to the World Bank and a shortage of hard currency that has led to widespread shortages of food and medicine. Maduro and state authorities have responded to the crises with increasing authoritarianism, including nationalization of private companies, assigning the military to oversee the distribution of food and medicine, and declaring the National Assembly's authority void. The crisis has also at times veered into farce. Just before the National Assembly was scheduled to open debate on the action Thursday, a power cut left the legislature in the dark, the body's president said. The government said the power was cut because Ramos forgot to pay the electricity bill.
