Guaidó calls for protests, strike to topple Maduro
In an address to thousands of supporters on Wednesday, Venezuela interim President Juan Guaidó called for a general strike and permanent protests to oust Nicolás Maduro. Rumors abounded that Maduro might be seeking a negotiated exit.
Fighting for his political survival, Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Wednesday said he was prepared to make deep and significant changes to his government for the good of the struggling nation. But he didn’t mention the one change that many are asking for: his own exit.
Speaking to a large crowd of supporters on May Day, Maduro, 57, invited governors, mayors, and community groups to meet with him this weekend and feed him ideas to save the nation.
“Tell Nicolás Maduro what needs to be changed,” he said. “We can change everything, improve everything, correct our errors in the middle of this battle.”
As Maduro was speaking, his security forces were on the other side of town stamping out large, anti-government protests with tear gas and buckshot, leaving at least 25 wounded and more than 32 arrest
ed by some counts.
Earlier in the day, his chief rival, interim President Juan Guaidó, called for permanent demonstrations and a general strike, saying it was the only way to drive Maduro and his corrupt allies out of office.
But he also cautioned for patience, saying he didn’t know if it would take “hours, days, or weeks” to topple Maduro but that there was no turning back. “We are on the right path,” he said.
But the path for both men seems treacherous at best.
On Tuesday, Guaidó led a bold but weak military uprising that devolved into chaotic street protests that left at least one person dead and almost 200 people injured. On Wednesday, Maduro said authorities would be seeking justice against a “handful of coup mongers” — likely a reference to Guaidó and his mentor and former presidential candidate Leopoldo López, who fled house arrest on Tuesday. And Maduro said they would be “going to jail sooner rather than later.”
But the opposition believes it’s Maduro’s days that are numbered.
Carlos Vecchio, Guaidó’s ambassador to the United States, repeated U.S. claims that many of Maduro’s closest allies — including Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino López — were talking to the opposition and ready to betray him.
“They’re telling us they know the situation is unviable and they need to find a way out of Maduro,” Vecchio told el Nuevo Herald.
He also discounted the idea that Tuesday’s military uprising had been a failure.
“It’s like we’re scaling a mountain,” he said. “Every day we are closer to the peak and every day Maduro is more buried.”
Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets Wednesday, holding rallies at more than 300 spots. While some went ignored by security forces, others were broken up with tear gas, buckshot, and violence.
In Caracas’ La Florida neighborhood, security forces dispersed a group of neighbors who were peacefully protesting.
It was too much for Carmela García, who broke down in frustration, saying she was going hungry and the country’s dire economic condition had forced her son to emigrate.
“How long will they destroy this country for?” she wailed in front of TV cameras. “I am so angry with this country. … And those wretches say there’s nothing going on here.”
There were scenes of bloodied protesters who had been hit with metal pellets or shot with tear-gas canisters at close range.
Guaidó’s calls for more action — including progressive strikes leading to a general strike — could tighten the noose on Maduro, who has lost public support but still seems to command the bulk of the military.
He’s also fighting allegations that he’s considering stepping down.
Opposition Congressman Ismael León told VPI TV on Wednesday that Maduro was supposed to board a plane at 5 a.m. Tuesday and abandon Venezuela “but he was countermanded by the Cubans.”
“Maduro is negotiating his exit,” León said, “and we will be on the streets until this regime leaves.”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said that Maduro had an airplane on the tarmac waiting to take him to Havana early Tuesday but was talked out of it by the Russians.
In a national address late Tuesday, however, Maduro called those assertions more “lies” of President Donald Trump’s administration and vowed to hold onto power.
In his speech, Maduro said that many of the soldiers who sided with Guaidó had been “tricked” into supporting him. He also said dissident soldiers had shot five of his loyal troops and that three were in critical condition.
Surrounded by his Cabinet, Maduro accused Washington of trying to spark a “blood bath” to justify a foreign military intervention.
“What kind of mental instability do those people have,” he said of Trump’s national-security staff. “How much hate do those people have?”
What’s clear is that Venezuela seems to be entering a new and unpredictable phase.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday said National Security Advisor John Bolton had called him on Tuesday and told him that it was uncertain who might end up in jail, Guaidó or Maduro.
“John called me pretty early in the morning to say, ‘Look, things are moving in Venezuela. The day may end with either Guiadó in jail or Maduro in jail, we don’t know which one. We’re hoping it goes it the right direction,’ ” DeSantis told reporters.
Guaidó himself has acknowledged the likelihood that he might end up behind bars, saying it would be tantamount to a coup — as he’s recognized as the country’s legitimate president by Washington and more than 50 other nations.
“They are going to try to pursue me, they are going to try to pull off a coup,” he told the crowd. “But we have our path, we have our calling and we have our strategy.”
Much of the Western Hemisphere supports Guaidó’s plans to oust Maduro, install a transitional government, and call new elections. They argue that Maduro has illegally clung to power since 2013 through increasingly fraudulent votes — most recently in May 2018.
The Trump administration has ramped up financial and economic sanctions on the country and said “all options are on the table” when dealing with Maduro.
Military intervention in Venezuela is complicated by Russia, China, Cuba, Turkey, and others coming out in support of Maduro.
On Wednesday, Guaidó blasted Maduro and his allies for destroying a oncerich country. Although Venezuela boasts the world’s largest crude oil reserves, it has been racked by power and water outages, food and medicine shortages, and hyperinflation.
“They represent death … they represent a lack of future,” Guaidó said of the Maduro regime. “But we represent change and we represent life. And life always wins.”