UPDATE - Trump watching Venezuela events 'very closely'

ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT; BOLTON COMMENTS AND TWEETS

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is watching “very closely” an ongoing military uprising seeking to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power.

Shortly after his top officials said the U.S. fully supports the effort being led by opposition leader Juan Guaido, Trump said on Twitter: "I am monitoring the situation in Venezuela very closely. The United States stands with the People of Venezuela and their Freedom!"

Guaido earlier Tuesday published a video alongside a small contingent of uniformed military personnel and armored vehicles in which he called for an uprising to end the "usurpation" of Maduro.

He stressed this was the beginning of the final phase of the effort to oust Maduro, known as Operacion Libertad, or Operation Liberty.

Guaido called on Venezuelans to take to the streets to support the "democratic forces" and "recover the country's freedom" after sympathetic military officials released Leopoldo Lopez, the opposition leader who has been held in custody since 2014 for leading anti-government protests.

Mass demonstrations have since taken place in the Venezuela's capital, Caracas, at times devolving into bloody clashes with security forces who remain loyal to Maduro.

U.S. National Security Advisor issued warnings to Venezuela's defense minister, supreme court chief and counterintelligence chief to defect.

"Your time is up. This is your last chance. Accept Interim President Guaido’s amnesty, protect the Constitution, and remove Maduro, and we will take you off our sanctions list," Bolton wrote on Twitter. "Stay with Maduro, and go down with the ship."

He later told reporters at the White House he hopes the military uprising "is enough to tip Maduro out of power," warning that while the U.S. is seeking "as our principle objective a peaceful transfer of power" it maintains "all options" to deal with the crisis.

Venezuela has been rocked by mass demonstrations since Jan. 10, when Maduro was sworn in for a second term following a vote boycotted by the opposition.

Tensions escalated when Guaido, who heads Venezuela’s National Assembly, declared himself acting president Jan. 23, a move which was supported by the U.S. and many European and Latin American countries.

It is unclear how widespread the military defections seen Tuesday have become.

Venezuela has been in the throes of humanitarian and economic crises amid the political deadlock between Guaido and Maduro as Washington has ramped up diplomatic and economic pressure on the Venezuelan president, including sanctioning his state-run oil company, in a bid to get him to relinquish power.

The political stalemate comes as Venezuela grapples with an economy that has been torn asunder by the global decline in the price of oil -- Venezuela's chief export.

The severe economic crisis has led to acute shortages of goods and medicine, and has repeatedly resulted in widespread power outages.