A bit of financial juggling may have helped Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s embattled socialist president, stave off a default after paying $1.5bn to international creditors last month. But that will not save him from being removed from office, the opposition claims, and sooner rather than later. The coalition Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, which controls the legislature, is planning to oust Mr Maduro before his term ends in 2019 via a constitutional amendment to cut his term short, a recall vote on his mandate, and a national campaign calling for his resignation. “Venezuela is . . . more clear [than ever] on the absolute need to get rid of this government,” Jesús Torrealba, head of the opposition group, said in Caracas. Mr Maduro, is defiant, countering that “no one will take me away from here, gentleman”. But while friendly governments in Brazil and Bolivia are wrestling with corruption-related scandals, and Caracas’ ally Raúl Castro is due to shake hands with US President Barack Obama in Havana this month, he is increasingly isolated. Two months ago, following a landslide victory amid widespread discontent, the opposition took over the national assembly for the first time since the late Hugo Chávez launched his socialist revolution in 1999. Some of its leaders then vowed to remove Mr Maduro from power within the first half of 2016.