Venezuela: Guaido calls for more protests, strikes

By Lokman Ilhan

CARACAS, Venezuela (AA) - Venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president has urged his supporters to take to streets on Saturday for more protests to topple country's elected leader, Nicolas Maduro.

Juan Guaido took to Twitter on Friday also calling for a general strike to "end the usurpation of Maduro".

"Continuing [the protests] on the street is the only way to maintain the attention, pressure, the action of the international community [...] and to demonstrate to those who still support the dictator that there will be no stability as long as the usurpation continues," he said.

On Tuesday, Guaido posted a video on social media showing him standing alongside a small contingent of uniformed military personnel and armored vehicles in which he called for an uprising to end Maduro's rule.

But Guaido's move, which he said was the beginning of the final phase of the effort to oust Maduro, has seemed to have failed to garner enough support within the military.

In a show of defiance Thursday, Maduro took to the streets of Caracas in a march flanked by senior military officers and followed by 4,500 military personnel, according to the Defense Ministry.

Venezuela has been rocked by protests since Jan. 10 when President Nicolas 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 on Jan. 23, a move which was supported by the U.S. and many European and Latin American countries.

Turkey, Russia, China, Iran, Bolivia, and Mexico have thrown their weight behind Maduro.

* Writing by Burak Bir