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Guaido vows to oust Maduro as thousands of Venezuelans protest
CARACAS, March 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido vowed
Tuesday to take Nicolas Maduro’s place in the presidential palace “very soon,” as
thousands of people took to the streets of Caracas to protest.
“We need an office to work in, so very soon, and when we have the armed forces
totally on our side, we’ll go to find my office there in Miraflores. Very soon,”
Guaido told supporters, who chanted back: “Yes, you can!”
Demonstrators banged pots and sounded car horns at the protest in a square in the
east of the capital. Many waved large banners calling on Maduro to go.
“The situation is very difficult, we are hoping that this government will change.
We’ve had enough of this chaos!” said one of the demonstrators, Miguel Gonzalez.
“With courage and strength I asked you to believe in yourselves, that Venezuela would
emerge from the darkness, that the end of the usurpation is very close,” said Guaido,
who is recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries.
Venezuela’s state prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, told reporters he would place
Guaido under investigation for “his alleged involvement in the sabotage of the
Venezuelan electric grid.”
It is the first government move against the US-backed Guaido since his return to
Venezuela last week after defying a travel ban to visit several allied South American
leaders.
– ‘Electricity war’ –
Maduro has blamed a devastating multi-day blackout plaguing Venezuela on Washington,
and declared “victory” in what he called an “electricity war” triggered by the
Pentagon.
He also called for support from allies including Russia and China as well as the
United Nations in investigating the US “cyber attack” he said was responsible for the
blackout.
MORE/AU/08:10 hrs
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While Maduro pointed the finger at Washington, critics have long blamed the
government for failing to maintain the power grid.
Guaido, 35, is seeking to capitalize on public anger over the blackout, which has
piled misery on a population suffering years of economic crisis and shortages of food
and medicine under Maduro.
The youthful opposition chief — locked in a power struggle with Maduro since
declaring himself interim president on January 23 — has branded the socialist leader
a “usurper” over his re-election in May, widely dismissed as neither free nor fair.
Outlining the case against Guaido, Saab said the opposition leader had disseminated
a series of messages that have “stoked violence.”
“At this moment he appears as one of the intellectual authors of this electrical
sabotage and is practically calling for a civil war in the middle of this blackout.”
– ‘New sanctions’ –
The US kept up the pressure on Tuesday, with its special envoy on the crisis,
Elliott Abrams, saying Washington would soon impose “very significant additional
sanctions” on institutions doing business with Maduro’s government.
It has already targeted a growing list of individuals and companies linked to the
Maduro government, including state oil company PDVSA.
Prompted by Guaido’s urging, the opposition-dominated National Assembly declared a
“state of alarm” on Monday to pave the way for the delivery of international aid, 250
tons of which has been stuck for a month at Venezuela’s borders with Colombia and
Brazil.
However, with Maduro controlling the military and security services — which are
currently preventing aid from entering the country — he has no means of enforcing it.
Maduro used the military to begin distributing food, water and other assistance in
several districts on Tuesday.
Marshalled by security forces, crowds formed impatient lines at water trucks in some
areas, as they waited to fill containers. But tensions were running high amid the
shortages.
“I saw people lining up for a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice, and the shopkeepers had
to fire shots in the air to keep the lines under control,” Alberto Barboza, 26, told
AFP in the oil capital Maracaibo.
“I heard a lot of shooting,” said Barboza, adding that a local bakery and a tire
shop were looted.
The blackout has left millions without running water. Many people lined up to buy
bottled water in Caracas supermarkets, but most are reduced to desperate means —
besieging fountains in public parks and any available water sources around the
capital.
– ‘Active resistance’ –
Maduro had called for armed grassroots groups known as “colectivos” to hit back
against what he called attacks encouraged by the US against the country’s electrical
grid.
“The time has come for active resistance,” he said in a speech late Monday.
The opposition argues the colectivos have been armed by the government and act as
militia.
Critics say such groups were behind the death of seven people on February 23 when
the opposition tried in vain to bring US-supplied food and medicine across the borders
with Colombia and Brazil.
Power has been restored to some areas since the weekend, but service has been
intermittent and service often drops out.
Businesses and schools remained shuttered on Maduro’s orders, as they have been
since the blackout began.
As the situation worsened, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Washington is
withdrawing all its remaining personnel from the US embassy in Caracas. All non-
emergency staff were ordered to leave on January 24.
BSS/AFP/AU/08:15 hrs