Venezuela’s Guaido Claims Military Support to Ta
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Those poor people down their deserve better
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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday went to a military base in the nation’s capital to proclaim the end of socialist President Nicolas Maduro’s regime and called for a military uprising.
Leopoldo Lopez, his ally and mentor long held under house arrest, was freed and accompanied him to La Carlota military base in Caracas, where they spoke on a highway outside as hundreds gathered. They were flanked by dozens of soldiers who concealed their faces with masks and wore blue bracelets to signal their allegiance. Guaido posted a video of the men together on their social networks.
relates to Venezuela’s Guaido Claims Military Support to Take Power
Juan Guaido tweeted photo.Source: Twitter
“The definitive cessation of the usurpation began today,” Guaido said on the video. “Today, brave soldiers, brave patriots, brave men attached to the constitution have come to our call.”
It was unclear how many members of Venezuela’s armed forces had rallied to their side, but the uprising, which prompted residents to erupt and security forces to lay down tear gas in the streets, was the strongest bid yet to topple Maduro. Under his autocratic rule, the nation has fallen into grinding misery. The mainstay oil industry is at a near standstill, the U.S. has levied punishing sanctions and hyperinflation has led to the immiseration of millions.
Guaido, the head of the National Assembly, has said the constitution makes him the nation’s rightful leader because Maduro stole his election last year. The U.S. and dozens of other nations recognize him as the president.
On Tuesday, US Senator Marco Rubio called for Venezuela’s military to back Guaido and said on Twitter that “this is the moment for those military officers to fulfill their constitutional oath.”
Residents of Caracas blew whistles out their windows in the early morning and yelled “coup.” But the regime promised the rebellion would be quelled.
Venezuela is "confronting and deactivating a small group of military traitors" who positioned themselves "to promote a coup d’etat against the constitution and the peace of the Republic," Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said on Twitter. He called on citizens to resist them.
The reappearance of Lopez was a dramatic turn that appeared calculated to reinvigorate an opposition movement that had stalled since Guaido attempted in February to bring humanitarian aid across the nation’s borders. The effort, meant to catalyze resistance, was met with violence and supplies burned on an international bridge.
“This is the morning for all us to go out to the streets, civilians and soldiers,” he told reporters Tuesday morning at La Carlota. Lopez, who wore the blue bracelet of rebellion, said he was freed by his captors. “Today, we are convinced this process is irreversible.”
After speaking, Guaido and Lopez disappeared from the scene as government forces deployed a thick blanket of gas.
Lopez helped orchestrate Guaido’s ascent from his house arrest. They met more than a decade ago during protests against Maduro’s own political tutor, Hugo Chavez, was executing his ultimately disastrous brand of socialism.
Lopez maneuvered for his Popular Will party to assume the presidency of the gutted legislature. He then tapped Guaido, serving his first full term as a lawmaker, who rose to the helm of their party in Venezuela after more senior Popular Will politicians were exiled.
Guaido has been a loyal acolyte of Lopez for years, standing beside him at a 2014 news conference when the activist announced a strategy of anti-Maduro unrest. What was called “The Exit” bitterly divided the opposition because it came less than a year into Maduro’s presidency, when support for his rule was still strong.