Venezuela, the socialist paradise, is an absolute wreck. Years of control by dictators like Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro have turned the country into a slow-motion starving disaster. Maduro’s solution? Rewrite the Venezuelan constitution to give his party even more power, and most likely install himself as dictator, instead of continuing to pretend that he will actually stand for reelection in December 2018.

The Venezuelan Supreme Court also tried to seize power away from its Congress – a decision which was quickly reversed – but started what has turned into more than 100 days of solid protests by the Venezuelan people, with at least 92 people dead.

There is a symbolic vote scheduled for Sunday, in a last-ditch effort for the people to at least make their voices heard.

The weekend plebiscite will ask voters if they support the government’s plan to elect an unpopular National Constituent Assembly that will overhaul the 1999 constitution.

Critics, including some inside the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, fear that President Nicolás Maduro will use the new entity to tighten his hold on the South American country and further delay — or outright cancel — elections.

“The Constituent Assembly is a fraud, because it doesn’t resolve any of the problems that Venezuelans are facing, like hunger and crime,” said opposition congressman Omar Ávila, with the Unidad Visión Venezuela party. “This is another trick to try to hold onto power … until we simply can’t take it anymore.”

Organizers of Sunday’s vote are hoping that if they can get millions of people to reject the deal, the government might be persuaded to drop its plans.

So far, that seems unlikely.

Maduro and his supporters say Sunday’s referendum is illegitimate. And they’re pushing forward with their own July 30 vote to elect 527 members of the assembly, known as ANC for its name in Spanish, in a process designed to stack the body with the party faithful.

International observers, at least, are treating this vote seriously and will be in Venezuela, with former Mexican President Vicente Fox among them.

Estoy por salir a Venezuela a ser parte de la lucha por libertad y democracia de esa nación https://t.co/emPunz13MN #FuerzaVenezuela

— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) July 14, 2017

The tweet translates to “I am about to leave (for) Venezuela to be part of the struggle for freedom and democracy of that nation.”

And even if the vote (does Maduro’s party get to count the ballots?) goes in favor of keeping the current constitution, what then? More riots, more crackdowns, more violence.

¿Qué les produce este vídeo? Yo ni siquiera puedo ponerlo en palabras, ¿ustedes? pic.twitter.com/aU7yVE8r1p

— Maria Alesia Sosa (@MariaAlesiaSosa) July 14, 2017

This is gut-wrenching stuff. See how Venezuela security forces gang up on one guy. Disgusting. https://t.co/nEKPCpd1Uk

— David Luhnow (@davidluhnow) July 14, 2017

The only thing the vote might do is force the international community to take the Venezuelan people seriously when they march in the streets against Maduro. Maduro himself will most likely use the vote as fodder to keep the violence going, and make himself absolute ruler of the chaos that is now Venezuela.