Pressure mounts on Maduro to resign
Opposition leader Guaidó meets with European envoys as protests break out across Venezuela
CARACAS — Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters rallied Saturday in a massive show of resolve and unity, escalating the campaign to drive President Nicolás Maduro from power even as the first major defection occurred among his crucial military backers.
The demonstrations alone were unlikely to cause Maduro to buckle. But the open defiance on the streets seeks to keep the pressure on Maduro at home while sending a message to other nations considering throwing their support behind the opposition and its leader, Juan Guaidó.
Opposition leaders also hope large-scale protests — in combination with international isolation and sanctions — will push Maduro to negotiate his exit or prod the military to force him out.
Guaidó, who heads the opposition-controlled National Assembly that last month proclaimed Maduro a usurper, planned to speak later Saturday to European Union envoys in hopes France, Britain and other European powers would join the United States and others in recognizing Guaidó as Venezuela’s de facto leader.
Shortly before anti-Maduro demonstrators started to gather on the streets, Maduro received a blow from his inner circle: a senior figure in the armed forces broke publicly from the government.
It marked the most serious act of dissent yet from the military brass, which has stood behind Maduro as his main bulwark against the opposition.
In a video circulating social media on Saturday morning, an acting Venezuelan air force general, Francisco Yanez, denounced the “dictatorship” of Maduro and recognized opposition leader Guaidó’s claim as the nation’s legitimate interim leader.
“People of Venezuela, 90 per cent of the armed forces are not with the dictator,” Yanez, in uniform, said in a video he appears to have filmed himself. “The transition to democracy is imminent.”
The Twitter account of Venezuela’s air force, which consistently retweets Maduro and other government officials, released a photo of the video with the word “traitor” in red letters scrawled over Yanez’s face.
“We have to highlight that he has no command over troops and less so over air force units,” an air force tweet said. “He has no leadership at the air force and was only serving planning functions.”
Former Venezuelan general Antonio Rivero, living in exile in Miami, confirmed the person in the video appeared to be Yanez.
For the opposition, the protests will mark a key test of its ability to sustain a social uprising against Maduro. The anointed successor of leftist Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013, Maduro was sworn in for a new six-year term last month following elections internationally derided as fraudulent.
Guaidó has evoked constitutional powers declaring himself the nation’s rightful interim leader, setting up a global power play that has seen Russia and Cuba back Maduro while a growing list of Western nations led by the U.S. back Guaidó.
In an attempt to rally his side, Maduro also brought supporters onto the streets for counter-protests marking 20 years of socialist rule.
But it expected to be vastly overwhelmed by the size of the opposition marches in Caracas and elsewhere.
“We are marching because we can’t take this situation any more,” said Carmen Sanchez, a 42-year-old woman who lives in the slum of Petare, as she joined the opposition crowds that appeared to number at least in the tens of thousands, if not more.
“We don’t have enough money for food. This government has to resign for Venezuela to be beautiful again and I have faith Guaidó will bring us success,” Sanchez said.
Maduro, meanwhile, was bracing this weekend for the prospect of further international diplomatic blows.
The European Parliament already called on the bloc’s member states to recognize Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president. The E.U. has said it will leave that decision to individual countries, but has moved to form an “international contact group” designed to create the conditions necessary to hold new elections.