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Venezuela is where we start today's show. The South American country is having a major political crisis and seeing violent protests against the government. Now, President Nicolas Maduro wants to rewrite the country's constitution.
Venezuela's government has one legislative branch. It's called the National Assembly. Since an election in 2015, it's been controlled by the party that opposes that of President Maduro.
In late March, Venezuela's supreme court took away the National Assembly's powers. That put the government under the control of Maduro's own socialist party. And he just called for a new legislative branch to be created, what he calls the constituent national assembly.
It would include about 500 people, some of whom would be elected. It would rewrite Venezuela's constitution and reshape the president's powers. A large crowd of Maduro's supporters seem to welcome the announcement. But in other parts of the country, protesters were out in force.
The leader of the current National Assembly called Maduro's plans a fraud and coup against the current Venezuelan constitution. He asked people to rebel and refuse to accept it.
The last time the Venezuelan government did something like this was under former President Hugo Chavez in 1999. This time, skyrocketing prices, food and medical shortages and a severe recession are threatening Venezuelans.
