Venezuelan president Maduro threatens to fire public servants

(Vatican Radio)  Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has insisted he will fire senior public sector workers in five key ministries who voted against him in a build up to an attempted referendum trying to remove him.  

Listen to James Blears' report:

According to ruling Socialist Party spokesman Jorge Rodriguez: "People who are against President Nicolas Maduro`s Revolution, cannot be in management positions in Ministries, Public Institutions, State or Local Government."

Those five key ministries, which are due for the firings are: Food, Finance, Works, Basic Business, and the Presidential Office. 

Their offense, punishable by being for the high jump, was voting against President Maduro in round one of a signature collection, which the opposition aims to lead up to a Referendum, to remove President Maduro from power.

Hundreds of less highly placed opponents who were workers in the public sector say they've already been fired.

Electoral officials insist that phase two, involving the collection of four million signatures demanding the Referendum, can't start until October and would take at least 90 days to access. 

This would mean the January 10th deadline for a fresh presidential election couldn't be met in time. 

After that juncture, even if the Referendum went against the President, his Vice President would take charge, leading the nation until the mandate expired in 2019.

The opposition coalition says there's going to be a nationwide protest about the issue on September 1st.