Clashes in Venezuela as Guaidó calls for uprising; Maduro decries ‘coup attempt’

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Tuesday called for mass anti-government protests and military defections, announcing what he termed the “final phase” in an operation attempting to remove President Nicolás Maduro from office.

About an hour after Guaidó spoke, Maduro’s communications minister said the government was confronting a small group of military officers looking “to promote a coup” against the president.

“We call on the people to remain on high alert to, together with the glorious Bolivarian National Armed Forces, defeat the coup attempt and preserve the peace,” Jorge Rodriguez wrote on Twitter.

In a video posted on social media early Tuesday, Guaidó was flanked by a small group of soldiers outside the La Carlota military base in the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas.

“Today, brave soldiers, brave patriots, brave men attached to the constitution have followed our call,” said Guaidó, the head of the National Assembly, who has called himself the country’s interim president.

“Today, we are counting on the people of Venezuela,” he said. “Today, the armed forces are clearly on the side of the people, they are on the side of the constitution.”

Guaidó called on the military and the Venezuelan people to join him in nonviolent protest against Maduro. Though he spoke alongside a group of soldiers, it was not clear how much of the military’s support he had.

Eyewitnesses told the Miami Herald that thousands of anti-government protesters had taken to the streets of Caracas in support of Guaidó amid reports of gunfire and confrontations.

And local media showed video of what appeared to be a military vehicle running over demonstrators.

Hundreds of Maduro’s supporters gathered at a rally beside the presidential palace, where security forces were deployed on the perimeter wall, chanting slogans of support, the Associated Press reported.

Maduro wrote on Twitter that he had spoken to Venezuela’s military leaders and that they had shown “total loyalty” to the country and the constitution. He also called for “maximum popular mobilization” to assure victory.

Guaidó addressed a crowd of his supporters later Tuesday morning in Caracas, saying through a loudspeaker that “today we know that all Venezuelans, all, are in favor of change.”

Guaidó was also joined by detained activist Leopoldo López, who said he had been freed by members of the military.

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In a post on Twitter, Guaidó said the “end of the usurpation” had been initiated.

“At this moment, I am with the main military units of our Armed Forces, beginning the final phase of Operation Freedom,” he wrote.

In the video posted Tuesday morning, Guaidó — who had been calling for a massive demonstration May 1 — said the plan had been moved up a day and that the operation “starts today.”

Rodriguez, Maduro’s communications minister, tweeted later that the country was “facing and deactivating a small group of traitor military personnel” promoting a coup.

Speaking on Venezuelan state television, Constituent Assembly Chief Diosdado Cabello said that a group of sergeants and military intelligence officials had defected, and that Maduro was calling on supporters and the military to gather at Miraflores Palace to defend the government.

Tear gas was fired at a highway overpass near the La Carlota base near where Guaidó and several heavily armed soldiers with blue bands wrapped around their forearms were seen, the Associated Press reported.

Members of President Donald Trump’s administration voiced their support for Guaidó.

Vice President Mike Pence addressed Guaidó in support of the operation, saying on Twitter, “We are with you!”

“America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored,” he wrote.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also voiced support for the opposition, writing on Twitter that the “U.S. Government fully supports the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom and democracy.”

Maduro won re-election for a six-year term last year in a widely disputed election that many countries, including the United States and most Western nations, did not recognize.

In late January, Guaidó invoked a constitutional provision to claim he was interim president, drawing the backing of many countries, but the military has remained largely in support of Maduro.