Protesters are clashing with police on the streets of one of the world's most unstable countries

REUTERS/Marco Bello

In Venezuela — mired in deep economic malaise and beset by intense violence — demonstrators took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the increasingly embattled and isolated socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro.

In recent days, Maduro has railed against alleged interference from the US and elsewhere that he says is part of a campaign to remove his government from power by illegitimate means.

The protests, which are a follow-up to demonstrations that took place last week, have been led by officials from the opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD, by its Spanish acronym) and have already drawn comparisons to the wave of protests that swept the country in early 2014, which left dead more than 40 people from both sides of the political divide.

Demonstrators took to the streets last week as part of an effort to carry out a recall referendum against Maduro.

The referendum reportedly has more than 1.8 million signatures in support, considerably more than the 200,000 needed to start the recall process, but less than the 4 million needed to actually begin the referendum.

Source: The Financial Times

If the recall referendum occurs this year, and if it garners more than the 7.6 million votes Maduro received in the 2013 election, then he is removed from office and a new election must take place.