CARACAS: Demonstrators clashed violently with police on the streets of the Venezuelan capital Tuesday, spurred by opposition leader Juan Guaido’s call on the military to rise up against President Nicolas Maduro, whose government said it was putting down an attempted coup.
An apparently carefully planned attempt by Guaido to demonstrate growing military support disintegrated into rioting as palls of black smoke rose over eastern Caracas.
The government said it was “deactivating” an attempted coup by a small group of “treacherous” soldiers.
As rioting and confusion raged, there was little early sign Maduro’s iron grip on the military — which has kept him in power in a months-long standoff with Guaido — had slipped.
On Twitter, he claimed the military chiefs had assured him of their “total loyalty.”
Guaido rallied his supporters with an early morning video message that showed him — for the first time — with armed troops he said had heeded months of urging to join his campaign to oust Maduro.
The 35-year-old National Assembly leader was filmed outside the La Carlota air base, where he urged the armed forces inside to join him.
The video had the extra shock value of featuring key opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez at his side, saying he had been released from years of house arrest by soldiers.
Guaido claimed the move was the “beginning of the end” of Maduro’s regime, and there was “no turning back.”
Thousands of opposition supporters flocked onto a highway near the base, many waving Venezuelan flags. But confusion reigned as they were met with gunfire and tear-gas fired by soldiers at the perimeter of the base.
Lopez later entered the Chilean embassy with his wife and one of his children to claim asylum, Chile’s Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero announced in Santiago.
Soldiers backing Guaido wore blue armbands to demonstrate their allegiance to the opposition leader — recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries — but there appeared to be few of them.
Brazil said later a number of Venezuelan troops had sought asylum at its Caracas embassy.
Maduro had called on his forces to show “nerves of steel” and troops in riot gear, backed by armored vehicles and water tankers, lined up against the demonstrators on a highway wreathed in tear-gas.
Several of the vehicles ran into the crowd, injuring some of the protesters. Rioters later blocked the highway with a bus and set it on fire.
A pall of black smoke rose from an area near a helicopter hangar on the base, but demonstrators who briefly managed to enter the base were pushed back.
“Today is the day Maduro resigns. Today is the day all the country’s drug dealers resign. Today we have a Venezuela. Today we have a nation,” said one protester amid the confusion.
As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appealed to all sides to avoid violence, Venezuela’s army chief and defense minister, General Vladimir Padrino, issued a stark warning of possible “bloodshed” — adding that he would hold the opposition responsible.
In a message on Twitter, Padrino said the situation in military barracks and bases in the country was “normal,” amid reports of demonstrations in Maracaibo and other cities.
He later said an army colonel had received a bullet wound to the neck during the clashes in Caracas.
The US, meanwhile, threw its full support behind Guaido, with the White House calling on the military to protect the people and support “legitimate institutions” including the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
“The US Government fully supports the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom and democracy. Democracy cannot be defeated,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Twitter.
Russia, Maduro’s main backer and creditor with China, accused Guaido of “fueling conflict” in the oil-rich country.
Maduro’s leftist Latin American allies Cuba and Bolivia also condemned Guaido.
Pro and anti-Maduro demonstrations were held outside the Venezuelan embassies in several Latin American and European capitals.
President Ivan Duque of neighboring Colombia — home to more than a million refugees from Maduro’s regime — called on Twitter for “soldiers and the people of Venezuela to place themselves on the right side of history, rejecting dictatorship and Maduro’s usurpation.”
Internet observatory NetBlocks reported that “multiple Internet services” were restricted in Venezuela following Guaido’s appeal.
The government suspended broadcasts from BBC Mundo, CNN International and a Caracas radio station, local media and the National Union of Press Workers said.
In his video, Guaido said the “definitive phase” had begun in his attempt to oust Maduro — who has presided over a catastrophic economic implosion since taking over from his late mentor Hugo Chavez in 2013.
“Brave soldiers, brave patriots, brave men supporting the constitution have answered our call,” Guaido said.
Tuesday’s call comes ahead of opposition plans to hold a massive Mayday protest in Caracas.
Tensions in Venezuela have been ratcheted up to a critical level this year, after Guaido announced on January 23 that he was the acting president under the constitution. He said Maduro had been fraudulently re-elected last year.
Although US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said “all options” are on the table regarding Venezuela — including, implicitly, military action — there has been no noticeable US military mobilization.
Instead, Washington has upped the economic pressure, through sanctions aimed at Maduro’s regime and by cutting sales of Venezuelan oil — its main revenue earner.
