Congress leader Henry Ramos wagged his finger inches from the president's head in a state-of-the-nation rebuttal that was broadcast live across the South American country Friday - unprecedented media access for an opponent of the country's socialist revolution. Neither Maduro nor his predecessor, the late President Hugo Chavez, had ever contended with a hostile audience for a speech to Congress, but foes of the administration took control of the institution last week for the first time in 17 years, carried to victory on a wave of economic turmoil.
The government's Central Bank, which had kept key economic indicators to itself for more than a year, dumped a batch of new bad news earlier in the day. It said the country's economy contracted by 7.1 percent during the quarter that ended in September 2015, and inflation reached 141.5 percent. Maduro described the numbers as "catastrophic" as he defended an emergency declaration giving him 60 days to unilaterally enact sweeping decrees. He devoted most of his three-hour speech to what he called a "monstrous attack" on the economy by business owners and other foes of the leftist government, blaming them for most of the inflation and shortages.
Ramos took a professorial tone in rebuttal, saying that Maduro and Chavez themselves are responsible for the crisis. "If you don't want to hear this, close your ears or leave," he warned as Maduro sipped from a coffee cup and checked his watch in the next chair. "If you give in to the desire to have more and more bolivars with the same number of dollars, your bolivars are going to lose value," Ramos said, referring to the country's plummeting currency.
The sight of an opposition leader lecturing the president on a live television feed all networks were required to carry shocked even ardent supporters of the sharp-tonged new congressional leader. Maduro rarely exposes himself to questions from independent reporters, much less questioning from political opponents. And few broadcast networks carry opposition events.
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