CARACAS, March 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido vowed to take Nicolas Maduro’s place in the presidential palace “very soon,” as thousands of people took to the streets of Caracas to protest.
“We need an office to work in, so very soon, and when we have the armed forces totally on our side, we’ll go to find my office there in Miraflores. Very soon,” Guaido told supporters, who chanted back: “Yes, you can!”
Demonstrators banged pots and sounded car horns at the protest in a square in the east of the capital. Many waved large banners calling on Maduro to go.
“With courage and strength I asked you to believe in yourselves, that Venezuela would emerge from the darkness, that the end of the usurpation is very close,” said Guaido, who is recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries.
Venezuela’s state prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, told reporters he would place Guaido under investigation for “his alleged involvement in the sabotage of the Venezuelan electric grid.”
It is the first government move against the US-backed Guaido since his return to Venezuela last week after defying a travel ban to visit several allied South American leaders.
Maduro has blamed a devastating multi-day blackout plaguing Venezuela on Washington, and declared “victory” in what he called an “electricity war” triggered by the Pentagon.
He also called for support from allies including Russia and China as well as the United Nations in investigating the US “cyber attack” he said was responsible for the blackout.
Guaido, 35, is seeking to capitalize on public anger over the blackout, which has piled misery on a population suffering years of economic crisis and shortages of food and medicine under Maduro.
Outlining the case against Guaido, Saab said the opposition leader had disseminated a series of messages that have “stoked violence.”
“At this moment he appears as one of the intellectual authors of this electrical sabotage and is practically calling for a civil war in the middle of this blackout.”
The US kept up the pressure on Tuesday, with its special envoy on the crisis, Elliott Abrams, saying Washington would soon impose “very significant additional sanctions” on institutions doing business with Maduro’s government.
It has already targeted a growing list of individuals and companies linked to the Maduro government, including state oil company PDVSA.
Maduro used the military to begin distributing food, water and other assistance in several districts on Tuesday.
Marshalled by security forces, crowds formed impatient lines at water trucks in some areas, as they waited to fill containers.
Maduro had called for armed grassroots groups known as “colectivos” to hit back against what he called attacks encouraged by the US against the country’s electrical grid.
“The time has come for active resistance,” he said in a speech late Monday.
The opposition argues the colectivos have been armed by the government and act as militia.
Power has been restored to some areas since the weekend, but service has been intermittent and service often drops out.
Businesses and schools remained shuttered on Maduro’s orders, as they have been since the blackout began. — NNN-AGENCIES