VALENCIA, Venezuela, (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition leader and National Assembly head Juan Guaido said yesterday he was launching a “new phase” in his push to oust President Nicolas Maduro, pledging to travel across the country before “reclaiming” the presidential palace.
Guaido, who invoked the constitution in January to assume an interim presidency, saying Maduro’s re-election was illegitimate, called on thousands of supporters to stay committed to what he dubbed “Operation Freedom.”
“Very soon, when we have visited and organised every inch…we will go to Miraflores and reclaim what belongs to the Venezuelan people,” Guaido said, referring to the palace, in a speech in the industrial city of Valencia 176 km (109 miles) west of Caracas, where he toured shops and walked the streets.
Most Western countries, including the United States, have recognised Guaido as the OPEC nation’s legitimate head of state and called on Maduro to step aside. But Maduro, a socialist who says he is the victim of an attempted U.S.-led coup, retains the support of the armed forces and control of state functions.
Guaido’s campaign until now has mostly focused on mobilising supporters in the capital Caracas, where power has largely been restored following a nearly weeklong blackout that paralysed a country already suffering from a hyperinflationary economic collapse and chronic shortages of food and medicine.
But the restoration of basic services has been slower in the country’s interior. In sweltering Maracaibo, the second-largest city, prolonged power outages led to the looting of shops and factories, and many merchants demanded foreign currency for purchases while electronic payment systems were down.
