Venezuela’s opposition leader calls for more protests 'if they dare to kidnap me'
Caracas: Risking arrest, Venezuela's opposition leader attended a rally Friday in his first public appearance since he declared himself president, and told supporters to maintain pressure on authorities "if they dare to kidnap me".
Opposition leader Juan Guaido's talk with reporters at a plaza in Caracas turned into a de facto rally as thousands gathered after hearing he would speak in public for the first time since taking a symbolic oath Wednesday proclaiming himself the nation's rightful leader. The rally, where people converged in a square ringed by police officers, was peaceful and orderly, and there was no immediate indication that Guaido would be taken into custody, as many had feared.
At the same time, Nicolas Maduro, who had been furiously describing his adversary as the lackey of an American-backed coup, appeared to take a more conciliatory approach, calling for dialogue.
Alluding to clandestine meetings that had taken place between opposition members and people in Maduro's orbit, he expressed a willingness to attend such meetings himself.
"If I have to use a hood or go naked, however I have to go," Maduro said at a news conference.
Maduro's call for dialogue appeared to signal that the standoff between the government and Guaido may be shifting.
Opposition lawmakers and analysts said Maduro may sense that loyalty to him among the security forces may be slipping as support for Guaido grows.
Guaido began his remarks at the rally by requesting a minute of silence for "victims of brutal repression", referring to demonstrators who have been killed or wounded in protests that flared throughout the past week in Venezuela. The UN human rights office said Friday that the death toll was at least 20.
"We have awakened from the nightmare, brothers and sisters," said Guaido, the 35-year-old leader of the National Assembly, the opposition-dominated legislature that has been rendered largely powerless by Maduro.
Guaido urged supporters to demonstrate peacefully and to distribute copies of an amnesty law the assembly had passed that encourages members of the armed forces to switch their loyalty to him.
The standoff could set the scene for more violence and has plunged troubled Venezuela into a new chapter of political turmoil that rights groups say has already left more than two dozen dead as thousands take to the street demanding Maduro step down.
"They can cut a flower, but they will never keep spring from coming," Guaido to supporters Friday, alluding to a similar phrase from the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.
The rally was held two days after Guaido declared himself Venezuela's legitimate president during a day of nationwide protests.
Maduro called his adversary an American puppet and broke relations with the United States.
The Trump administration and several other countries in the region quickly recognised Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan authorities are publishing videos they claim expose Guaido as a liar.
Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez on Friday presented surveillance video clips from a Caracas hotel. Rodriguez said the clips show that Guaido secretly met with socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello on the eve of protests where he declared himself interim president – a meeting Guaido denies.
A timestamp on the video says it was shot the night before Guaido publicly declared presidential powers, vowing to replace Maduro's dictatorship with democracy.
Rodriguez said that in the meeting Guaido told Cabello he was under pressure from US officials and powerful opposition leaders.
The surveillance clips allegedly of Guaido show a man wearing a hoody and baseball hat, hiding his face minutes after Cabello enters.
Rodriguez said officials are ready to present more proof from the meeting if Guaido continues to deny it. In an Univision interview, Guaido denied the meeting, saying Cabello never tells the truth.
The New York Times, AAP, AP