Venezuela: Guaidó calls on supporters to intensify ‘peaceful rebellion’ against Maduro.

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Tens of thousands of protesters hit the streets again on Wednesday and clashed with security forces after fruitless bid to oust Maduro.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó flashes a thumbs up at supporters during a rally in Caracas on Wednesday. Photograph: Martín Mejía/AP
▼ Clashes have broken out between protesters and Venezuelan security forces as tens of thousands of protesters returned to the streets one day after a dramatic but so far  fruitless bid to force Nicolás  Maduro from powerby triggering a massive military rebellion.
Juan Guaidó, the young opposition leader who led that attempted mutiny on Tuesday morning, told demonstrators in the capital, Caracas, they needed to intensify their “peaceful rebellion” against Maduro.
“Every day there will be acts of protest until we achieve our liberty,” Guaidó announced. “They thought they could suffocate our protest yesterday and they failed. We will remain in the streets until Venezuelais free.”
On Wednesday, anti-Maduro protesters once again hit the streets in towns and cities across the country to demand the exit of a politician they blame for leading their country into political and economic chaos.
“Before this year I’d never come out to march but I’m doing it now because I am certain that we will get Maduro out,” said Coromoto Méndez, a 50-year-old beauty salon owner, as she joined the demonstrations in Caracas.
“We have to support this and finish what we have started. Even theChavistasare asking for change,” Méndez added.
“I have faith and I believe that we have a leader who is taking us on the right path … Each day the people feel more hope and faith.”
But in a defiant televised addresslate on Tuesday, Hugo Chávez’s heir insisted he had seen off Tuesday’s attempt to topple him with the backing of “loyal and obedient” members of Venezuela’s Bolivarian armed forces.

Member of the National Guard throws an object towards opposition supporters on Wednesday. Photograph: STRINGER/Reuters
Flanked by Venezuela’s military and political elite, Maduro blamed Venezuela’s “coup-mongering far right” and Donald Trump’s deranged imperialist “gang” for what he called Tuesday’s attempted coup.
“I truly believe … that the United States of America has never had a government as deranged as this one,” Maduro said in his hour-long pronouncement, calling Guaidó and his team “useful idiots” of the empire.
“They failed in their plan … because the people of Venezuela want peace,” Maduro claimed. “We will continue to emerge victorious … in the months and years ahead. I have no doubt about it.”
Maduro also denied claims from the US secretary of state Mike Pompeo that he had been preparing to flee Venezuela for Cuba on Tuesday morning, until  he was told to stay put by his Russian backers. “Señor Pompeo, please,” Maduro said.
Guaidó counter-attacked at Wednesday’s demonstrations, insisting Maduro was “already defeated” and urging protesters not to lose hope.
But the opposition leader admitted he could not say how many hours, days or weeks remained before Maduro would be gone and told demonstrators they were likely to face growing repression from the embattled regime.
“Hard days lie ahead,” Guaidó warned.
A spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office voiced similar concerns on Wednesday amid reports of clashes between demonstrators and security forces in eastern Caracas.
“The UN Human Rights Office is extremely worried by reports of excessive use of force by security forces against demonstrators across Venezuela that has allegedly resulted in dozens injured,” Marta Hurtado said in a statement.
“Many have also reportedly been detained,” Hurtado added.

Anti-government protesters returns a tear gas canister during clashes with security forces on Wednesday. Photograph: Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images
At a pro-Maduro march winding through central Caracas to the presidential palace, Raiza Castillo, 40, was scornful of the opposition’s chances. “They’re out of touch with reality,” she said. “And we know that if [the opposition] get into power, the first thing they’ll do is get rid of all the benefits and improvements that we have won.”
Nearby, Tanía Díaz, the head of communications for Maduro’s PSUV party, said: “For 20 years, the extreme right has tried to take power by force and not through democracy. What we saw yesterday followed the same pattern of hybrid warfare: terrorist actions with a few figureheads out in front – in this case Guaidó and [his political mentor Leopoldo] López”.
There was consensus among analysts on Wednesday that Guaidó had failed in his main objective on Tuesday: forcing the immediate collapse of Maduro’s government.
“Juan Guaidó bluffed and he was badly defeated … this was a disastrous operation,” Eliane Cantanhêde, a prominent Brazilian journalist, arguedin a scathing column in the Estado de São Paulo newspaper.
Benjamin Gedan, the national security council’s Venezuela adviser during the Obama presidency, said: “It seems clear that the hope from Guaidó and López was a massive uprising in the intelligence services and the military which would have compelled Maduro to leave power immediately. To the extent that it is judged based on its objectives, it was an utter failure.”
But that was not to say Maduro’s crisis-stricken government was out of danger – or that the opposition challenge was over.
“I see no signs of stalemate. To the contrary, I see a government with a fragile hold on power facing increasing dissent in its ranks,” Gedan added.
David Smilde, a Venezuela expert from the Washington Office on Latin America, said the defection of the head of Venezuela’s intelligence services, Sebin, showed Maduro’s support base within the military was fragile. “They are sticking together – but this is a very unstable situation.”
Speaking from Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, Jair Bolsonaro said Brazilian intelligence suggested “there is indeed a fracture which is moving closer and closer to the top of the armed forces.
“So it is possible the government will collapse because some of those at the top switch sides,” Bolsonaro added.
The US national security adviser, John Bolton, also claimed the Maduro regime was close to falling.
“Our judgement is that the overwhelming number of military service members in the country support Juan Guaidóand the opposition,” Bolton told Fox & Friends, Donald Trump’s favourite morning television talk show.
“It’s just a matter of time before they come over the opposition and some of that could happen today.”

► This article was originally published here: Source