Caracas, Nov 17 (AFP/APP): Thousands of supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido took to the streets of Caracas on Saturday, demanding the departure of embattled President Nicolas Maduro, but the turnout was far less than expected.
Guaido had hoped to capitalize on the situation in Bolivia, where leftist leader Evo Morales resigned in the face of accusations of election fraud, to deal a death blow to his own political nemesis.
Opposition demonstrators did answer the call — about 5,000 of them marched, according to AFP’s crowd estimate. They carried national flags and banners with slogans such as “Maduro out” and “Follow Bolivia’s example.”
“We are not going to falter,” Guaido, who is recognized as Venezuela’s acting president by about 50 countries, told crowds of supporters gathered in front of Bolivia’s embassy.
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“Bolivia took 18 days, we have been at it for years. I ask all of Venezuela to keep protesting,” he said. “The struggle is until the takeover ends, until free elections are achieved.”
Guaido, 36, the head of the opposition-dominated National Assembly, has thus far failed to capitalize on early momentum built after he declared himself the crisis-wracked country’s acting president in January.
His camp believes that the 2018 elections, which returned Maduro to office, were undermined by fraud.
The opposition chief has urged the leftist leader, the political heir of late president Hugo Chavez, to call new elections.
“We have come today with very high expectations, we don’t want this to be just another march,” said Omar Kienzler, a 19-year-old law student.
