Guaido says protests continuing ‘with more strength than ever’
● Maduro regime’s security service cracks down on ‘coup’ supporters
Mass protests took place in Venezuela yesterday following violent clashes with government forces.
As Juan Guaido’s Operation Freedom entered another day president Nicolas Maduro ridiculed claims he had planned to flee to Cuba after the opposition leader’s call on Tuesday for a military uprising.
Like past attempts to oust Mr Maduro, the opposition seemed outmanoeuvred again as security forces using repressive tactics to crush small pockets of stone-throwing youths.
Millions of Venezuelans watched the drama unfold with a mix of fear and exaswho peration. Mr Guaido listing assembly spots on Twitter yesterday, saying: “Good day, today we continue, here are the points where we are concentrating today in Caracas. We are continuing with more strength than ever Venezuela.”
Mr Maduro sought to rally his supporters with a tweet condemning “yankee interference”.
The president tweeted: “Today the Venezuelan working class is mobilising in all the country to celebrate its day and defend its achievements, with a big march that will say no to putschism and no to yankee interference. Nerves of steel, calmness and sanity. Long live the workers and of the country!”
On Tuesday the opposition’s hoped-for split in the military did not emerge, a plane that the United States claimed was standing by to ferry Mr Maduro into exile never took off and by nightfall one of the government’s bravest opponents, defied house arrest to join the insurrection, had quietly sought refuge with his family in a foreign embassy.
Mr Guaido, the telegenic 35-year-old leader of the opposition-dominated congress who is recognised by the US and over 50 nations as Venezuela’s rightful president, nonetheless pressed forward in calling for a new round of mass street protests. Opposition forces are hoping that Venezuelans angered by broadcast images of armoured vehicles ploughing into protesters and fed up with their nation’s dire humanitarian crisis will fill streets across the nation.
In one blow to Mr Maduro, the head of Venezuela’s feared intelligence agency announced that he was breaking ranks with the embattled socialist leader.
“We need to keep up the pressure,” Mr Guaido said. “We will be in the streets.” The latest chapter in Venezuela’s political upheaval marks the most serious threat yet to Mr Maduro’s contested rule.
The leader, who has been relying on support from Russia and China, was largely absent as events unfolded on Tuesday. He finally emerged late in the evening to call the small-scale uprising a failed Us-backed coup attempt.
Speaking on state television, Mr Maduro said that the unrest had been quelled and that Venezuela would not succumb to right-wing forces intent on “submitting our country to a neocolonial economic domination model and enslaving Venezuela”.
“Now you can see a Venezuela largely in peace,” he proclaimed.