Throngs of anti-government protesters took to the streets of Venezuela on Wednesday to demand the resignation of leftist President Nicolas Maduro, whose economic policies have left the country on the brink of collapse.
Moments before the demonstrations broke out, opposition leader Juan Guaido, 35, declared himself interim president and immediately received recognition from President Trump.
The tens-of-thousands of rioters swarming the streets of Caracas accused embattled second-term President Maduro of usurping power amid the country’s crushing economic crisis, which has caused widespread food and medical shortages, forcing millions to starve or flee.
“Get out Maduro!” crowds shouted in Caracas while waving the country’s yellow, blue and red flag.
Others chanted: “Who are we? Venezuela! What do we want? Freedom!”
National guardsmen responded by spraying the demonstrators with tear gas plumes.
“Join us!” the protesters in Caracas implored a line of officers wearing helmets and carrying shields. “You are also living this crisis!”
Also marching were several hundred pro-government protesters, dressed in red, in support of Maduro.
Other demonstrations were planned across the country and outside embassies around the world to coincide with the anniversary of a 1958 coup that overthrew military dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez.
In San Felix, residents set fire to a statue of the late Hugo Chavez, who was Maduro’s mentor and predecessor. Four people were killed in the southern city of Ciudad Bolivar, including a 30-year-old worker who died when a group of men leapt from a beige Jeep and fired into a crowd looting a store.
Two nights of violent protests in working-class neighborhoods in Caracas preceded Wednesday’s march.
Maduro, who took his oath for his second presidential term Jan. 10, has accused the opposition of trying to provoke a bloodbath.
“I demand the full rigor of the law against the fascists,” he said on Tuesday night.
With Post Wires