"We all know the hard situation in Venezuela, which is a country I love very much", he told reporters traveling with him.
Demonstrators hold a placard that reads: "No more dictatorship" while rallying against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela May 1, 2017.
(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File).
Opposition leaders earlier denounced Maduro's call for a new constitution as a "giant fraud" created to keep the president in power and deny Venezuelans the right to express their views through elections.
He has also bristled at what he calls global interference in his country's affairs.
National Assembly President Julio Borges on Monday urged Venezuelans to continue fighting and blocking streets with more protests.
Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro announced on Monday the creation of a new popular assembly with the ability to re-write the constitution, which foes decried as a power-grab to stifle weeks of anti-government unrest.
"This will be a citizens assembly made up of workers", Maduro said.
The announcement came as tens of thousands of protesters marched through the capital and just a day after Pope Francis renewed his call for a negotiated solution to the crisis embroiling the South American country. Don't fail me now. "Don't fail Chavez, and don't fail your motherland".
"I am no Mussolini", he added.
"This constituent assembly Maduro wants is a clear betrayal of Chavez and the people". He hinted some would selected by voters, but many observers expect the selection process to favor the socialists.
"This is not a constituent assembly, it's the dissolution of the republic", said opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara.
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He said that the people will elect some 500 representatives to the assembly, with some 200-250 of them coming from the working class, the communes, the countrys Indians, and others.
"It's a way of calling elections that uses up energy but does not carry risk, because it's not a universal, direct and secret vote", Leon said.
However, Maduro's attempt to shift the responsibility for the country's future onto the will of "the people, the communities, the peasants", who will be entrusted with rewriting the constitution, did not sit well with the opposition, which have been demanding early elections. "After the Bible, this".
The opposition immediately seized on Maduro's proposal for a new charter as evidence that his mentor's revolution lies in shambles.
A protester scuffles with police as others shout: Police dont support the dictatorship during a May Day opposition march in eastern Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, May 1, 2017.
Venezuela's opposition has over a month protesting throughout the country, following a government attempt to dissolve the National Assembly.
"The National Assembly is controlled by the opposition but it has been stripped of most of its powers".
Earlier there were more clashes between protesters and police.
Some threw stones and petrol bombs at the security line.
The embattled socialist administration called its own march in downtown to celebrate May Day.
Rodriguez sought to "completely disprove" the opposition's claim that security forces fired a tear gas canister which hit the chest of 20-year-old college student and killed him died during a protest in Caracas last week.
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