Venezuelans defy ban on protest rallies
Thousands march in capital to support opposition leader Guaido
CARACAS, VENEZUELA— Thousands of opposition supporters marched to central Caracas on Saturday, defying a government ban on rallies in the Venezuelan capital’s core and testing a heavy police presence even as the country struggled to emerge from its worst blackout in recent memory. Clashes between police and protesters were reported early in the day, but a cordon of officers stepped aside to allow the demonstrators to rally and hear from opposition leader Juan Guaido.
“We have to conquer public spaces in a peaceful manner,” Guaido declared. “We have to prepare ourselves for very tough times.”
Power was intermittent in Caracas on Saturday, and remained off in large portions of the country’s west. State utility workers say it will take days to fully restore the national grid. In the capital, residents lined up outside food stores and gasoline stations to try to restock supplies and fuel. Opposition leaders have staged rallies for weeks in an effort to dislodge President Nicolas Maduro, whose re-elec- tion they say was rigged and whose policies they claim have brought the country to economic ruin.
The problems caused by the blackout — a loss of communication and public transporta- tion — had complicated the opposition’s efforts to organize Saturday’s rally. But its leaders were jubilant at the result: a series of protests across the country that drew thousands of supporters and only limited push- back from authorities.
The nationwide power failure has intensified pressure on Maduro, who appeared in public Saturday for the first time since a problem at Venezuela’s main hydropower plant Thursday afternoon plunged the country into darkness. Backup generators at upmarket hotels, which have become sanctuaries for Caracas’ affluent, began running out of fuel by Saturday.
A rival pro-government rally in Caracas on Saturday drew a smaller crowd.
Maduro and his ministers have blamed the blackout on sabotage, without providing evidence, and have said the United States was behind it. Critics have said it was the result of years of mismanagement and underinvestment.
The blackout has crippled air travel and public transportation, devastated scarce food supplies and threatened the lives of thousands of patients. Opposition leaders claimed that 79 patients across the country had died in hospitals because of the blackout, although that figure could not be independently corroborated.