Today is the day that Venezuela will replace its democracy with a single-party authoritarian system. Today, Venezuela officially becomes a totalitarian state.

When Socialist Bernie Sanders campaigned last year, he made the point that he’s a Democratic Socialist which sets him apart from Socialists because his ideology allows the public to vote. Well, that’s what Venezuela is supposed to be and the public’s vote is meaningless.

Venezuelans are voting Sunday in a referendum for a new assembly that will have the power to re-write the constitution and give the President sweeping new powers, installing him as a dictator.

Opposition leaders are boycotting the vote because they say the vote is rigged to allow Maduro’s Socialist party to continue to dominate so all 5,500 candidates for the 545 seats in the constituent assembly are his supporters. Unfortunately, the only ones voting will be Maduro’s people.

The government is encouraging participation by threatening to take away government workers’ jobs and welfare.

More than 7.2 million Venezuelans are in the streets protesting the coming Cuba-like dictatorship.

Maduro actually said solidifying his control will allow him to fight drug trafficking, but his Vice President is a narco-trafficker.

Saying the assembly will begin to govern within a week of this vote today, Maduro said its first task in rewriting the constitution will be “a total transformation” of the office of Venezuela’s chief prosecutor, a former government loyalist who has become the highest-ranking official to publicly split from the president.

Maduro will use his sweeping new powers to jail all who oppose him

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pledges to use the virtually unlimited powers of the new assembly to go after political foes, saying he will jail opposition lawmakers.

Maduro made clear in a televised address Saturday evening that he intends to use the assembly to govern without limitation, describing the vote as “the election of a power that’s above and beyond every other. It’s the super power!”

He said he wants the assembly to strip opposition legislators of their constitutional immunity from prosecution and jail at least one — Freddy Guevara, a hard-line opposition leader and one the highest-profile organizers of four months of protests against the government.

“This little Hitler has his cell guaranteed!” Maduro shouted, using his frequent nickname for Guevara.

In March, Maduro said all Supreme Court judges elected by Parliament and their deputies would be arrested.

Maduro indicated he is eager to prosecute many more members of the opposition parties that control a handful of state governments along with the National Assembly, providing one of the few remaining checks on the power of the Socialist party that has ruled this OPEC nation for nearly two decades, SRN news reported.

“The right wing already has its prison cell waiting,” the president said. “All the criminals will go to prison for the crimes they’ve committed.”

Massive protests since April have had no effect

In April, Maduro’s supporters on the Supreme Court tried to strip the National Assembly of its powers, setting off protests and clashes between police and demonstrators that have left at least 113 dead and nearly 2,000 wounded. Although most of the dead have been protesters apparently shot by police and government-linked paramilitaries, Maduro’s government blames the opposition for the violence.

Once South America’s richest country, 82% of Venezuelans now live in poverty. They don’t have food and medicine and Venezuelans are dying of preventable diseases.

Under Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela is sliding from economic catastrophe to dictatorship. The world should help stop it https://t.co/H5osJH7iZA pic.twitter.com/9CzSyWo1Fy — The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 29, 2017