EUROPEAN Union foreign ministers called for calm in Venezuela yesterday as a far-right opposition leader vowed to “paralyse” the country.

A Brussels summit of ministers from the bloc’s 28 members — including British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson — issued a statement, saying: “Violence and the use of force will not resolve the crisis in the country.”

They said people’s rights “must be respected, including the right to peacefully demonstrate. It is crucial that all parties refrain from violent acts.”

On Saturday, far-right Popular Will party acting leader Freddy Guevara called on militants to turn out today for a repeat of the April 24 “national sit-in” on major roads.

Those actions, organised by the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition, turned into violent rioting in the capital Caracas and elsewhere, with looted building materials, tyres and petrol used to erect burning blockades.

Weeks of riots, which have left dozens dead, are aimed at overthrowing President Nicolas Maduro’s United Socialist Party government — blamed by the Mud for the economic crisis and shortages of food and medicine.

“On Monday, we’re going to paralyse the country,” Mr Guevara boasted. “We’re taking more roads than before and for more time.”

He added that the elderly and women would be mobilised this time to present a dilemma to the government: “If they suppress them they lose, and if not, they also lose.”

On Sunday, rioters torched the medicine store at the Ruiz y Paez University Hospital in Bolivar City, eastern Venezuela.

Bolivar state Governor Francisco Rangel said: “Fascism shows its face again by attacking the people who need their medicines.”

He condemned the opposition as “destructive, excessive [and] anti-democratic.”

On Friday, the Communist Party of Venezuela reiterated its support for Mr Maduro’s government and its opposition to the riots, which it blamed on “a destabilising plan prepared by North American imperialism.”

“This plan has as its objective the imposition through force and blackmail of a government which would work to maintain US hegemony throughout the continent,” a party statement said.

The communists took this stance despite their recent anger at new National Electoral Council rules requiring them to hand over the party’s membership list before standing candidates.