Let aid in, Venezuelan opposition tells Maduro in street rallies
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition supporters returned to the streets nationwide on Tuesday to keep the heat on embattled President Nicolas Maduro and demand he allow humanitarian aid into the country where food and medicine shortages are rife.
BORDER PROTEST
On Venezuela’s border with Colombia, smaller opposition protests formed. In the town of Urena, across from Cucuta, several hundred people dressed in white danced in the streets, waving flags and chanting profanities against top government officials. “We want a prosperous Venezuela, as it was before,” said Mery Marin, a 25-year-old electrician. She said most young people from Urena had emigrated to escape the crisis. Guaido, who galvanized the opposition after several years of in-fighting, has vowed it will keep protesting to pressure Maduro to step down so new presidential elections can be held. There will be an all-night vigil on Tuesday in a Caracas square to demand that Maduro let aid in. Maduro’s critics had staged two major rounds of protests, the last in 2017, against what they call his dictatorship, but they subsided in the wake of a government crackdown. The current wave kicked off on Jan. 23, with a massive protest in Caracas during which Guaido was sworn in as president in front of thousands of supporters. The ruling Socialists, who have been in power for two decades, rallied in Caracas on Tuesday to “demand respect of the fatherland’s sovereignty.” A few thousand people gathered, including many state employees, holding “Defend the Country” banners. “We are here supporting the revolution. We’re against the invasion the gringos want to launch here,” said Marcos Velasquez, a 32-year-old Food Ministry employee. Guaido on Monday announced the first delivery of humanitarian aid, including vitamin and nutritional supplements for children and pregnant women, to a network of health centers. He did not explain how it had gotten into the country.Venezuelan general defects as anti Maduro rallies draw huge crowds
Earlier on Feb 2, a high-ranking Venezuelan general called on the armed forces to rebel against President Nicolas Maduro and to recognise the opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim chief as huge crowds rallied against the head of state, adding pressure on Maduro to step down.
The military’s support is crucial for the embattled Maduro, who is deeply unpopular largely due to an unprecedented economic crisis that has prompted an exodus of millions, but claims he is victim of a coup directed by the United States.
The general’s defection came as tens of thousands of opposition supporters, many sporting clothes in the yellow, blue and red colours of the Venezuelan flag, turned out at rallies nationwide to protest against Maduro and show support for Guaido.
Washington, along with many countries in the western hemisphere, has recognised Guaido as the legitimate president, arguing that Maduro stole his second term, and imposed potentially crippling sanctions this week that are likely to further weaken the OPEC nation’s struggling oil industry.