"It's made up of political activists at the service of the government and it's not going to resolve the problems with the economy. What's needed here is to change the Marxist, totalitarian, and statist ideology that has brought the country to ruin," he charged.
Cardinal Urosa told El Nacional that Maduro wants to "decapitate the opposition so there's just one political party."
He lamented that "the situation in the country is worse than a month ago: disregard for human rights continues, there are still political prisoners and opposition leaders that won in the elections are being persecuted; childhood malnutrition has increased and diseases eradicated in the 1950s are coming back, such as malaria, tuberculosis and diphtheria. But we've got to keep up the fight as did Bolivar, despite the defeats."
Frustration in Venezuela has been building for years due to poor economic policies, including strict price controls coupled with high inflation rates, which have resulted in a severe lack of basic necessities such as toilet paper, milk, flour, diapers, and medicines.
Venezuela's socialist government is widely blamed for the crisis. Since 2003, price controls on some 160 products, including cooking oil, soap and flour, have meant that while they are affordable, they fly off store shelves only to be resold on the black market at much higher rates.
The International Monetary Fund has forecasted an inflation rate of 2,300 percent in Venezuela in 2018.
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.