Guaidó leads protesters in capital to pressure Maduro

CARACAS, Venezuela — Demonstrators carrying flags and blowing whistles gathered in Venezuela’s capital Saturday, led by opposition politician Juan Guaidó, who is trying to reignite a campaign to force Nicolas Maduro from power.

Guaidó in a speech called on supporters to remain in the streets in the days ahead, pointing to the recent upheaval in Bolivia, where 18 days of protests prompted the resignation of Maduro’s ally, Evo Morales.

“If we stay at home, we will lose,” Guaidó said before marching peacefully with a small group of supporters to Bolivia’s embassy in eastern Caracas, an opposition stronghold.

“Today, tomorrow and Monday — we will be in the streets,” he added.

But it’s not clear he will be able to sustain momentum.

While crowds in Caracas were larger than they have been in months, they lacked the size and combativeness of demonstrations in January, when Guaidó declared himself president, arguing that Maduro had “usurped” power and violated the constitution by starting a second term widely seen by opponents as illegitimate.

Retired office worker Deborah Angarita

acknowledged that the crowd was not large, but she said she is determined to stay in the street despite the government’s efforts to wear down their resistance.

“We will stay in the streets until the regime leaves,” said Angarita, 60, who has been at all of the opposition marches this year.

Lisbeth Guerra said she closed her two electronics shops in Caracas to join the march because she is fed up with two decades of socialist rule that have ruined the economy and driven 20 of her relatives from the country.

“More than anything, I want other nations in the world to take note of our crisis,” she said, joining hundreds of Guaidó supporters at a plaza in the opposition stronghold of Altamira.

Maduro’s socialist party also called its members to demonstrate in solidarity with Bolivia’s Morales, who resigned the presidency and fled into exile in Mexico on Tuesday.

Maduro didn’t appear in person to address thousands of supporters, phoning in for a speech that was broadcast through speakers and transmitted on state TV.

“In Venezuela, nobody dares to mount a coup d’etat,” he said. “Here, the people defend the revolution, democracy, sovereignty and the constitution.”