Venezuela’s Guaido launches national tour in bid to oust Maduro

VALENCIA, Venezuela — Venezuelan opposition leader and National Assembly head Juan Guaido said on Saturday he was launching a “new phase” in his push to oust President Nicolas Maduro, pledging to travel across the country before “reclaiming” the presidential palace.

Mr. Guaido, who invoked the constitution in January to assume an interim presidency, saying Mr. Maduro’s re-election was illegitimate, called on thousands of supporters to stay committed to what he dubbed “Operation Freedom.”

“Very soon, when we have visited and organized every inch… we will go to Miraflores and reclaim what belongs to the Venezuelan people,” Mr. Guaido said, referring to the palace, in a speech in the industrial city of Valencia 176 kilometers (109 miles) west of Caracas, where he toured shops and walked the streets.

Most Western countries, including the United States, have recognized Mr. Guaido as the OPEC nation’s legitimate head of state and called on Mr. Maduro to step aside.

But Mr. Maduro, a socialist who says he is the victim of an attempted US-led coup, retains the support of the armed forces and control of state functions.

While US sanctions on staterun oil company Petroleos de Venezuela — known as PDVSA — have crimped crucial crude exports, Mr. Maduro retains the support of Russia and China.

Mr. Maduro did not appear at a Socialist Party rally in Caracas on Saturday, where his allies declared “victory” over the opposition’s efforts to remove him for power.

“They are threatening to go to Miraflores,” Diosdado Cabello, the party’s vice-president who leads the all-powerful National Constituent Assembly, said in a speech.

“We cannot allow that. They left from there before, and they will never again enter the palace of the revolutionary people.”

Mr. Guaido’s campaign until now has mostly focused on mobilizing supporters in the capital Caracas, where power has largely been restored following a nearly week-long blackout that paralyzed a country already suffering from a hyperinflationary economic collapse and chronic shortages of food and medicine.

But the restoration of basic services has been slower in the country’s interior. In sweltering Maracaibo, the second-largest city, prolonged power outages led to the looting of shops and factories, and many merchants demanded foreign currency for purchases while electronic payment systems were down.

“I am certain we will move forward,” said hairdresser Irasai Torres, 60, who attended Mr. Guaido’s speech in Valencia, which has been hard-hit by factory closures and the departure of foreign firms.

“My life is at a crossroads — we never have water, electricity has been going out for years and we need to wait in line for food. We do not deserve this.”

Mr. Maduro has blamed a US cyberattack for the outage, and this week the country’s chief prosecutor asked the Supreme Court to probe Mr. Guaido for alleged involvement in “sabotage” of the country’s electricity system.

But local electrical engineers told Reuters the blackout was the result of years of lack of maintenance. —