Venezuela on Edge on Day of Rival Maduro Protests - The New York Times

Venezuela braced for rival protests called by the government and its opponents on Wednesday, and the Trump administration renewed threats of military action, keeping tensions high a day after the opposition renewed its push to oust President Nicolás Maduro.

“Today we continue,” Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader, said on Twitter Wednesday morning. “We will keep it up with more force than ever.”

¡Buenos días! Hoy continuamos, estos son los puntos de la concentración el día de hoy en Caracas. Seguimos con más fuerza que nunca Venezuela. #VamosConTodo https://t.co/Rcp5jAo3U5

— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) May 1, 2019

The protest against Mr. Maduro, scheduled for May 1, a national holiday for workers in Venezuela, is the latest attempt by the opposition to claim the leadership of a country suffering from a crumbling economy that has left the population lacking food and medical care.

While the opposition has received the backing of more than 50 countries, its momentum on the street has flagged in recent weeks.

The United States backed Mr. Guaidó from the start and has remained a stalwart supporter. The Trump administration would prefer a peaceful transition, said Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, but restated in an interview with the Fox Business Network Wednesday morning that “military action is possible.”

Image

The remains of motorcycles in Caracas, a day after opposition protesters clashed with government forces.CreditMiguel Gutierrez/EPA, via Shutterstock

“If that’s what’s required, that’s what the United States will do,” Mr. Pompeo said.

On Tuesday, Mr. Guaidó tried to jump-start the drive to remove Mr. Maduro from office, appearing at a military base alongside Leopoldo López, the country’s best-known political prisoner. Mr. López had apparently been freed by security forces, leading many to speculate that a rebellion against Mr. Maduro might be afoot.

But no major military defections occurred, and in the streets, forces loyal to Mr. Maduro clashed with protesters. At least 69 people were wounded on Tuesday, according to a hospital that treated them; Mr. López eventually fled to Spain’s embassy in Caracas.

On Wednesday, pro-government protesters were expected in the streets as well, raising the prospect of further violence.

Mr. Maduro has said he will not back down.

“We are over the shock and surprise, and now we will take this all on with nerves of steel,” he said in a televised address on Tuesday night.

The clashes Tuesday reverberated in Washington, where American officials said they believed top government officials had been preparing to turn on Mr. Maduro. Mr. Pompeo said that Mr. Maduro was prepared to leave the country, but that he had decided not to at the behest of Russia.

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told CNN that was not true. “Washington tried its best to demoralize the Venezuelan army, and now used fakes as a part of information war,” she said.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/world/americas/venezuela-protests-guaido-maduro.html

2019-05-01 14:47:29Z
52780280474276

Pompeo says military action in Venezuela 'possible' - CNN

"The President has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent. Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Pompeo said on Fox Business Network. "We're trying to do everything we can to avoid violence. We've asked all the parties involved not to engage in the kind of activity. We'd prefer a peaceful transition of government there, where Maduro leaves and a new election is held. But the President has made clear, in the event that there comes a moment -- and we'll all have to make decisions about when that moment is -- and the President will have to ultimately make that decision. He is prepared to do that if that's what's required."

On Wednesday, Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said that the US military was "prepared to support the President should he require more from" them. However, the top US military commander for US forces in Central and South America suggested that he did not see a role for the armed forces in the conflict over Venezuela's disputed leadership.

"Our leadership has been clear this has to be should be primarily a democratic transition," Adm. Craig Faller said Wednesday. "We are in total support of diplomacy and we stand ready to support that effort."

While administrations officials have said that "all options are on the table" since the US first backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, they have failed to voice any concrete plans and stressed that the Venezuelan people should be in control of their future. Experts note that there are sizable challenges to a military intervention.

"While the US has never taken the military option off the table, the US doesn't have forces in the area sufficient for an invasion," said Kevin Ivers, a Latin American expert and vice president of the DCI Group. Ivers said that a US attempt to intervene militarily in Venezuela "would be far more difficult even than Iraq. The terrain, the number of Venezuelan forces, it would have been a much bloodier conflict." He noted that not even neighboring Colombia has forces on the border with Venezuela at the moment, eliminating the possibility that a regional force could act.

Ivers added that armed US intervention -- something Guaido supporters have said they do not want -- "would have meant an end to international support for Guaido, but they always left it on the table to ensure the regime knew they meant business, this was a serious effort, not just for show."

Pompeo's latest rhetoric comes as embattled Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has claimed his troops have defeated a "coup" attempt amid calls by Guaido for protesters to return to the streets Wednesday.

When Guaido announced his interim government in the beginning of the year, he was backed by the US and dozens of other nations. Since then, Venezuela -- which is mired in a deep political and humanitarian crisis -- has had two men claiming to be president.

On Tuesday, Pompeo claimed to CNN's Wolf Blitzer that Maduro was preparing to leave the country for Cuba but was talked out of it by Russia. Moscow has denied the accusation.

National security adviser John Bolton said on CNN's "New Day" Wednesday morning that US national security officials would be meeting about Venezuela later in the day. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan has canceled his international travel set for Wednesday in order to more effectively coordinate with the National Security Council and the State Department on Venezuela, Shanahan's spokesperson said.

CNN's Devan Cole, Ryan Browne, Barbara Starr, Jamie Crawford and Nicole Gauoette contributed to this report.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/01/politics/mike-pompeo-venezuela-military-action/index.html

2019-05-01 13:40:00Z
52780280474276

Could Russia and the US come to a deal over Venezuela's Maduro? - CNBC

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro (L) speak at a bilateral meeting on September 3, 2015 in Beijing, China.

Sasha Mordovets | Getty Images News | Getty Images

As unrest continues in Venezuela, some analysts are questioning how much support Russia will give beleaguered President Nicolas Maduro and if Moscow could be ready to strike a deal with the U.S. to end the Latin American country's political and humanitarian crisis.

The U.S. and Russia have traded fresh barbs over Venezuela, each accusing the other of interfering in the country as protesters took to the streets for a second day in support of opposition leader Juan Guaido.

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Maduro was prepared to leave the protest-wracked country Tuesday morning but said he had changed his mind after Russia intervened.

"They had an airplane on the tarmac. He was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it. Russians indicated he should stay," Pompeo told CNN.

Russia rebuffed that accusation, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying Wednesday that the U.S. assertion was part of an "information war," Reuters reported.

Deal discussions?

The two sides may be more open to discussing what to do about Venezuela behind closed doors. On Wednesday, during an interview on 'Fox & Friends,' U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton suggested that Pompeo could later hold a call with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. CNBC contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment Wednesday but no one was immediately available.

The U.S. and Russia have already discussed Venezuela at a meeting held in Rome in mid-March between Russia's deputy foreign minister and the U.S. special representative for Venezuela.

Some analysts think that the two heavyweight countries might be coming to some kind of deal over Maduro's potential departure.

"(There's) little doubt in my mind that the Russians and the U.S. have been talking for weeks about some kind of deal to ease Maduro out of office," Timothy Ash, a senior emerging markets strategist at Bluebay Asset Management, said in a note Wednesday.

He said several factors led his to this conclusion — firstly, that Moscow had gained leverage to negotiate with the U.S. by sending military advisers to Caracas and, secondly, that President Trump had so far not signed off on new sanctions on Russia for its alleged use of a chemical weapon following the nerve agent poisoning of former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, in the U.K. in 2018.

"I think the U.S. administration held back getting Trump to sign this as something was cooking on Venezuela. They saw sanctions as a negotiating chip with Moscow."

Ash believed that, for the Russians, the "deal" was no more sanctions, allowing Russian oil companies to retain the right to operate in Venezuela and get paid back in full for debts owed, and some deal around "spheres of influence."

Battle for influence

The international battle for influence over Venezuela's future kicked off in January when opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself president. Many countries, including the U.S., endorsed that leadership bid and backed regime change in a country wracked by poverty and political unrest.

The military stayed loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, however, and Russia (as well as allies in China, Syria and Iran) backed the incumbent leader.

Russia has a vested interest in backing Maduro after it gave the country financial aid. Reuters estimates that the Russian government and state energy company Rosneft have handed Venezuela at least $17 billion in loans and credit lines since 2006. It has also provided the Venezuelan government with military equipment and it has stakes in the country's energy sector.

As such, Moscow wants to protect its assets from regime change as well as preventing the U.S. from increasing its sphere of influence.

"Russia's bottom line is to stop regime change by external intervention, but if it falls from within they'll go with the flow," Christopher Granville, managing director of EMEA and Global Political Research at TS Lombard, told CNBC Wednesday.

"If the political situation evolves internally and a new regime emerges that is strong and stable I'm sure they would pragmatically support it," he noted. "But a driving force for Russia is to stop a process of regime change by outside forces ... and the U.S. using its power to overthrow governments it doesn't like."

Whatever Russia's distaste for regime change — seen as a hangover from the collapse of the Soviet Union — more analysts have questioned how far Russia is willing to go to protect Maduro.

Eileen Gavin, senior politics analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, said that, ultimately, Russia "has bigger fish to fry" than Venezuela, but will try to protect its own interests.

"Russia has assets on the ground in Venezuela and has considerable financial interests there and it would want a seat at the table in any discussions over Venezuela's future," she told CNBC Wednesday.

"Their support for Maduro is rhetorical. I think they would be happy to let him go, but they want that seat at the table to protect their assets."

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/01/could-russia-and-the-us-strike-a-deal-over-venezuelas-maduro.html

2019-05-01 13:30:37Z
52780280474276

Venezuela in crisis as Guaido calls for May Day protests: Live updates - CNN

Protesters stand off with guards in Caracas Tuesday.

Protesters stand off with guards in Caracas Tuesday.Getty Images

One man died in Tuesday's demonstrations, which spanned across 65 cities, according to Venezuelan rights monitoring group Provea.

Two other rights groups in Venezuela -- the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict -- also reported the death.

IACHR also said that protests were held in 24 states and, in at least 12 of the states, were “strongly repressed.”

Provea also said 83 people were arrested as of 8 p.m. Tuesday, citing the monitoring group Foro Penal.

More than 70 people were injured in the clashes and were taken to Salud Chacao Medical Center in Caracas, according to the hospital's president.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.cnn.com/americas/live-news/venezuela-crisis-live-may-day-protests-intl/index.html

2019-05-01 13:21:00Z
52780280474276

Assange gets 50 weeks in British prison for bail jumping - AOL

LONDON (AP) — A British judge sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Judge Deborah Taylor said it was hard to imagine a more serious version of the offense as she gave the 47-year-old hacker a sentence close to the maximum of a year in custody.

She said Assange's seven years in the embassy had cost British taxpayers 16 million pounds ($21 million), and said he sought asylum as a "deliberate attempt to delay justice."

The white-haired Assange stood impassively with his hands clasped while the sentence was read. His supporters in the public gallery at Southwark Crown Court chanted "Shame on you" at the judge as Assange was led away.

The Australian secret-spiller sought asylum in the South American country's London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

Related: Julian Assange

14 PHOTOS

Julian Assange

See Gallery

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange makes a speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, in central London, Britain February 5, 2016. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/Files

A supporter of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange holds a banner outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London as he marks three years since Assange claimed asylum in the embassy on June 19, 2015. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange clocks up three years inside the Ecuadoran embassy in London today, after claiming that Swedish prosecutors cancelled a landmark meeting in his case earlier this week. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS (Photo credit should read JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

A supporter of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange holds banners outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London as he marks three years since Assange claimed asylum in the embassy on June 19, 2015. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange clocks up three years inside the Ecuadoran embassy in London today, after claiming that Swedish prosecutors cancelled a landmark meeting in his case earlier this week. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS (Photo credit should read JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Julian Assange, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WikiLeaks speaks via video link during a press conference on the occasion of the ten year anniversary celebration of WikiLeaks in Berlin, Germany, October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears on screen via video link during his participation as a guest panelist in an International Seminar on the 60th anniversary of the college of Journalists of Chile in Santiago, Chile, July 12, 2016. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

File photo dated 05/02/16 of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who will publish more confidential documents on the US Central Intelligence Agency once a "key attack code" has been disarmed, he has revealed.

File photo dated 5/2/2016 of Julian Assange who has defended the release of emails by WikiLeaks about US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaking from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has been living for more than three years after the country granted him political asylum.

BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 4: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange participates via video link at a news conference marking the 10th anniversary of the secrecy-spilling group in Berlin, Germany on October 4, 2016. (Photo by Maurizio Gambarini/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet presents in Quito, Ecuador, on June 23, 2016 the Ecuador 's book " When Google found Wikileaks". Julian Assange made his appearance to the world in 2010 with the publication by WikiLeaks of thousands of secret documents revealing conspiracies , corruption, crimes , lies, and incriminate several governments and particularly the United States as the main actor illegalities. (Photo by Rafael Rodr�uez/ACGPHOTO/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 05: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange prepares to speak from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy where he continues to seek asylum following an extradition request from Sweden in 2012, on February 5, 2016 in London, England. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has insisted that Mr Assange's detention should be brought to an end. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 05: A panel of WikiLeaks representitives and press look on as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks at a press conference at the Frontline Club via video link from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on 5 February 2016 in London, England. Mr Assange's speech comes a day after it was announced that the UN panel ruled he was being unlawfully detained at the Ecuadorian Embassy. (Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

Australian founder of whistleblowing website, 'WikiLeaks', Julian Assange speaks to media after giving a press conference in London on July 26, 2010. The founder of a website which published tens of thousands of leaked military files about the war in Afghanistan said Monday they showed that the 'course of the war needs to change'. In all, some 92,000 documents dating back to 2004 were released by the whistleblowers' website Wikileaks to the New York Times, Britain's Guardian newspaper, and Germany's Der Spiegel news weekly. Assange also used a press conference in London to dismiss the White House's furious reaction to the disclosures. AFP PHOTO/Leon Neal (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MAY 21: (AUSTRALIA OUT) Wikileaks founder Julian Assange poses during a portrait shoot on May 21, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mark Chew/Fairfax Media/Fairfax Media via Getty Images).

Up Next

See Gallery

Discover More Like This

HIDE CAPTION

SHOW CAPTION

of

SEE ALL

BACK TO SLIDE

Assange's lawyer Mark Summers told a courtroom packed with journalists and WikiLeaks supporters that his client sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy because "he was living with overwhelming fear of being rendered to the U.S."

He said Assange had a "well-founded" fear that he would be mistreated and possibly sent to the U.S. detention camp for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

Summers read a letter from Assange apologizing for his behavior in 2012 and saying "I did what I thought was best."

"I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances," the letter said.

Assange was arrested April 11 after Ecuador revoked his political asylum, accusing him of everything from meddling in the nation's foreign affairs to poor hygiene.

He faces a separate court hearing Thursday on a U.S. extradition request. American authorities have charged Assange with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system.

More from Aol.com:
Putin says he's 'outraged' about Maria Butina sentencing
Ecuador's president gives bizarre reason for revoking Julian Assange's asylum
British woman freed after being arrested for calling ex-husband's new wife a 'horse'

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/05/01/julian-assange-gets-50-weeks-in-prison-for-bail-jumping/23720037/

2019-05-01 11:40:54Z
52780281392773

Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach - BBC News

Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions.

The 47-year-old was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act last month after his arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy.

He took refuge in the London embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he has denied.

In a letter read to the court, Assange said he had found himself "struggling with difficult circumstances".

He apologised to those who "consider I've disrespected them", a packed Southwark Crown Court heard.

"I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done," he said.

In sentencing him, Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange it was difficult to envisage a more serious example of the offence.

"By hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the UK," she said.

In mitigation, Mark Summers QC had said his client was "gripped" by fears of rendition to the US over the years because of his work with whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.

"As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything," he said.

As Assange was taken down to the cells, he raised a fist in defiance to his supporters in the public gallery behind him.

They raised their fists in solidarity and directed shouts of "shame on you" towards the court.

Assange now faces US federal conspiracy charges related to one of the largest leaks of government secrets.

The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange to the US in response to allegations that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases.

He faces up to five years in a US prison if convicted.

Wikileaks has published thousands of classified documents covering everything from the film industry to national security and war.

---

At the scene

By BBC correspondent Andy Moore, at Southwark Crown Court

As Julian Assange arrived at court from Belmarsh High Security prison, photographers got a picture of him defiantly pumping his fist.

He's still got a beard but it's been trimmed - it's not the white, bushy beard he was wearing when he was hauled out of the Ecuadorean Embassy last month.

There's big international interest, and more than a dozen TV cameras outside.

Journalists had to queue for two hours before the case opened to get a ticket to Court Number One, or to an overflow court where there was a videolink to the live proceedings.

Supporters of Assange are outside court making their voices heard - one has been reading from her notes saying Assange is a political prisoner.

---

Assange was dramatically arrested by UK police on 11 April after Ecuador abruptly withdrew its asylum.

At a court hearing that same day, he was remanded in custody and called a "narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest" by district judge Michael Snow.

Days later, Swedish prosecutors said they were considering reopening the investigation into rape and sexual assault allegations against him.

At the time, Assange said he had had entirely consensual sex with two women while on a trip to Stockholm to give a lecture.

Prosecutors dropped the rape investigation in 2017 because they were unable to formally notify him of allegations while he was staying in the embassy.

Two other charges of molestation and unlawful coercion had to be dropped in 2015 because time had run out.

More than 70 UK MPs and peers have signed a letter urging Home Secretary Sajid Javid to ensure Assange faces authorities in Sweden if they want his extradition.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48118908

2019-05-01 10:43:54Z
CBMiJGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay00ODExODkwONIBKGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy9hbXAvdWstNDgxMTg5MDg

One Image of Japan’s Royals Tells a Story of Demographic Crisis - The New York Times

TOKYO — It looked a little lonely up there.

During the short, solemn ceremony on Wednesday in which the new emperor of Japan, Naruhito, 59, accepted the sacred sword, jewels and seals that signify his right to sit on the throne, he was flanked by just two people. Standing ramrod straight to his right was his younger brother, Prince Akishino. To his left was his aging uncle, Prince Hitachi, who sat in a wheelchair.

It was striking visual evidence of the imperial family’s looming existential crisis: It has precious few heirs left.

Like Japan itself, the imperial family has a demographic problem. Just as Japan’s population is shrinking and aging, so is the royal family’s. The line of succession, which is limited to men, is only three people long.

Besides the emperor’s 53-year-old brother and 83-year-old uncle, there is only one other eligible heir: Prince Hisahito, the emperor’s nephew. Because he is only 12, he was too young to attend Wednesday’s ceremony. Under rules set by a government committee, only adult male members of the royal family were permitted to witness the rites.

“It’s so obvious, right?” Takeshi Hara, an expert on the imperial family and a professor at the Open University of Japan, said after watching the sacred regalia handoff on television. “The severity that the family faces is apparent.”

Image

Princess Aiko, 17, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito and his wife, Empress Masako, is not allowed to ascend to the throne.CreditKazuhiro Nogi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Thirty minutes after the ascension ceremony, the women of the imperial family filed into the state room in the Imperial Palace, where the new emperor delivered a brief address before a group of politicians, judges, prefectural leaders and their spouses.

This time, Naruhito was flanked by 13 family members, 11 of whom were women.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed a platform of elevating women in the often patriarchal Japanese workplace, hoping to supplement the country’s dwindling labor force and energize its economy.

Similarly, the imperial family may have to consider permitting women to join the line of succession.

Under current law, women are not allowed to ascend to the throne, and women born into the royal family must renounce their imperial titles and officially leave the family once they marry. Their children — even males — cannot succeed to the throne.

When Japan’s Parliament passed a one-time law in 2017 to allow Naruhito’s father, Emperor Akihito, to abdicate, it attached an addendum that encouraged the government to study the possibility of allowing women born into the royal family to remain within the imperial household after marrying.

Image

Naruhito’s motorcade after his imperial rituals in Tokyo on Wednesday.CreditTakuya Inaba/Kyodo News, via Associated Press

Such a move would expand the pool of available heirs if the women were granted the right to head legitimate lines of succession, even if they could not sit on the throne themselves.

On Wednesday, Mr. Abe’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said in a news conference that the declining number of imperial heirs was “an extremely important issue related to the fundamentals of the state.” He said the government would conduct discussions about allowing royal women to remain within the imperial family “deliberately and carefully.”

Emperor Naruhito and his wife, Masako, have just one child, a daughter, Princess Aiko, 17. After she was born, the government briefly considered changing the law to allow women to join the line of succession. But once Prince Hisahito was born, such discussions were shelved.

Conservatives oppose proposals to admit women to the line of succession, citing tradition and notions of pure-blood legitimacy. If women were allowed as emperors, said Hidetsugu Yagi, a professor of law and philosophy at Reitaku University in Chiba Prefecture, “the imperial family would be no different than any other ordinary family.”

“Eventually,” he said, “the imperial system would end.”

In fact, rules barring women from heading lines of succession date back only to the 19th century, in the Meiji Era. And over the 126 generations of recorded emperors in Japan, eight women ruled when no adult men were eligible at the time.

Image

Watching the emperor’s motorcade.CreditKim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

The emperor and other members of the imperial family are extremely circumspect in their public comments, so it is impossible to know for sure what they think about the succession problem.

Earlier this year, Naruhito acknowledged that there were few remaining heirs and specifically referred to “the declining ratio of male imperial members.”

But even if he wanted to, it would be difficult for the new emperor to change the rules.

“It’s not as if we can expect him to take radical action,” said Kristi Govella, an assistant professor of Asian studies at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. “There are many actors who would be involved, particularly in actually changing the rules of succession.” Any changes to imperial law must be approved by Parliament.

Still, those who resist change may have to yield to reality, said Kenneth J. Ruoff, a historian and specialist in Imperial Japan at Portland State University. “Everybody in Japan now speaks openly about the fact that the future of the imperial line is in grave danger,” he said. “They don’t have any choice but to revisit the issue.”

Outside the Imperial Palace following the ascension rites on Wednesday, well-wishers gathered in hopes of getting a glimpse of the new emperor, with some saying they wished that the imperial family could change how it treats women.

Image

A ceremony marking the enthronement of the new emperor at a shrine in Tokyo.CreditCharly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“What’s wrong with a female emperor, I wonder?” said Yukiko Minegishi, 41, who works at a uniform maker in Tokyo and had come to the palace with her mother.

She added that the prohibition against women in the line of succession was, like other gender-related traditions in Japan, out of step with the times.

Ms. Minegishi noted that women are not allowed in sumo rings, another practice that has come under scrutiny, after a referee last year shooed women out of a ring when they rushed to offer lifesaving measures to a politician who had collapsed while delivering a speech.

“Those practices need to change in the modern era,” Ms. Minegishi said. “Men and women should be treated equally.”

Although any overhaul of imperial rules may take time, some analysts wondered if the new empress might subtly serve as a role model for women in society.

A former diplomat, Empress Masako could be enlisted as a cultural ambassador for Japan. Shortly after her marriage, she impressed observers when she sat between President Bill Clinton and the Russian leader, Boris N. Yeltsin, at a state dinner and conversed easily with both of them in their own languages.

She could soon have the opportunity to flex her diplomatic skills: President Trump will be the first foreign leader to meet the new emperor and empress, arriving in Tokyo later this month.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/world/asia/emperor-japan-women-royal-family.html

2019-05-01 10:03:08Z
52780281562412