Dueling Venezuelans dig in to defend presidency claims
CARACAS, Venezuela — The Venezuelan opposition leader who has declared himself interim president vowed Friday to remain on the streets until the South American country has a transitional government, while President Nicolas Maduro dug in and accused his opponents of orchestrating a coup.
In dueling news conferences, Juan Guaido urged his followers to stage another mass protest next week, while Maduro pushed his oft-repeated call for dialogue. Each man appeared ready to defend his claim to the presidency no matter the cost, with Guaido telling supporters that if he is arrested they should “stay the course” and peacefully protest.
But the standoff could set the scene for more violence and has plunged troubled Venezuela into a new chapter of political turmoil that rights groups say has already left more than two dozen dead as thousands take to the street demanding Maduro step down.
“They can cut a flower, but they will never keep spring from coming,” Guaido told supporters Friday, alluding to a similar phrase from the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.
Guaido’s talk with reporters in a plaza in Caracas turned into a de facto rally as thousands gathered after hearing he would speak in public for the first time since taking a symbolic oath Wednesday proclaiming himself the nation’s rightful leader. The 35-year-old is the president of the National Assembly, the only remaining branch of government still controlled by the opposition.
The Trump administration announced it was recognizing Guaido as president quickly after his oath, leading Maduro to announce that he was breaking all diplomatic ties with the United States.
Maduro is accusing the opposition of working with the U.S. to overthrow him. Though over a dozen nations as well as the Inter-american Development Bank are recognizing Guaido as president, Maduro still has the support of powerful, longtime allies like Russia and China and is vowing to defend his socialist rule.
“This is nothing more than a coup d’etat, ordered, promoted, financed and supported by the government of the United States,” Maduro said Friday at the presidential palace before a room of journalists. “They intend to put a puppet government in Venezuela, destroy the state and take colonial control of the country.”
But he added that he was still willing to talk with the opposition even if he “had to go naked.”
Both sides attempted dialogue last year, but it fell apart as Maduro pushed forward with an early election that the country’s most popular opposition leaders were barred from running in.
On Friday, Alexander Shchetinin, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Latin America department, told the state RIA Novosti news agency that Moscow is ready to play mediator between Venezuela’s government and the opposition. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, called out the United States for what he said was its “unacceptable and destructive” moves.
The war of words is taking place as international concern over repression by state security forces during the days of political upheaval mounts.
U.S. and Venezuelan diplomats are finding themselves caught in the crosshairs of the political melee. On Wednesday, Maduro gave U.S. diplomats 72 hours to leave the country. Washington said it would defy Maduro by keeping the embassy open but ordered all non-essential staff to leave.
On Friday morning, a caravan of black SUVS escorted a contingent of U.S. embassy workers and their families to the Caracas airport. They were later seen checking into an American Airlines flight, some traveling with babies and guarded by security personnel.
Maduro, meanwhile, has recalled all Venezuelan diplomats from the U.S. and ordered the nation’s embassy and consulates there closed.
Amid the tension, the U.S. on Friday named Elliot Abrams, a hawkish former Republican official, to handle American policy toward Venezuela.