Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro waves a national flag during a rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, July 27, 2017.Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has provoked international outcry and enraged an opposition demanding his resignation with his push to elect an assembly that will rewrite the troubled South American nation’s constitution. Sunday’s election will cap nearly four months of political upheaval that has left thousands detained and injured and at least 100 dead. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro waves a national flag during a rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, July 27, 2017.Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has provoked international outcry and enraged an opposition demanding his resignation with his push to elect an assembly that will rewrite the troubled South American nation’s constitution. Sunday’s election will cap nearly four months of political upheaval that has left thousands detained and injured and at least 100 dead. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) Credit: Ariana Cubillos

Caracas, Venezuela — Government opponents are begging Venezuelans to sit out a vote on Sunday for what they see as a puppet congress and the last step toward dictatorship in this South American country.

Venezuela is not yet the kind of dictatorship that once proliferated in Latin America — with rulers who “disappeared” opponents, banned books and movies and ran mass torture centers. Government pressure and violence against journalists have drastically curbed the press, but digital media outlets thrive. Hundreds of political prisoners are in jail, according to human-rights groups, but opposition leaders continue to forcefully speak out. This month, the government allowed critic Leopoldo Lopez, the former mayor of Caracas, to exchange jail for house arrest.

Yet on Sunday, critics say, an authoritarian system long in the making will be formalized, reviving memories of an era that the region had hoped was over. In defiance of international warnings, the socialist government is pushing forward with a vote to elect a constituent assembly. It will have the authority to change the 1999 constitution, supplant the opposition-controlled legislature and potentially keep Maduro in power indefinitely.

Maduro — the anointed successor of firebrand leader Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013 — strongly defends the new assembly, saying it will fortify what he hails as “the Communal State.” While it’s unclear exactly what he is seeking in a new constitution, it would likely give more power to “communal councils” in poor neighborhoods. Leaders of those councils, critics contend, are government loyalists, who in practice would sideline elected politicians and win direct pipelines to government funds.