Guaido calls for new rally as lawmakers declare ‘alarm’

CArACAs: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido called for a new mass demonstration as a devastating blackout that has left millions without power entered its fifth day and the United States said it is withdrawing its remaining diplomatic personnel from Caracas.

President Nicolas Maduro meanwhile called for grassroots groups to hit back against what he called attacks encouraged by the US against the country’s electrical grid.

“The time has come for active resistance,” he said in a speech.

Guaido, in a speech to the National Assembly which he leads, said “tomorrow at three o’clock in the afternoon, all of Venezuela will be on the streets” to protest against Maduro.

Parliament accepted the 35-year-old’s request to declare a “state of alarm” to pave the way for the delivery of international aid, 250 tonnes of which has been stuck for a month at Venezuela’s borders with Colombia and Brazil.

Guaido and the opposition-controlled legislature have no means to enforce it, though, as Maduro controls the military and security services, which are currently preventing aid from entering the country.

Guaido, recognised as Venezuela’s interim president by more than 50 countries, called on the military and security services to “refrain from preventing or hindering” yesterday’s protests.

Describing the situation as a “catastrophe,” he said the blackout – the worst in the Latin American country’s history – had claimed dozens of lives since it began on Thursday.

Power was restored to some areas of the country over the weekend but – with residents and businesses fearing that refrigerated food would spoil – service was patchy and power often lasted just a few hours before dropping out again. — AFP