The Venezuelan opposition leader has asked the military and civilians to rise up against President Nicolás Maduro.
A day after Venezuela’s opposition declared a rebellion against President Nicolás Maduro, nervous uncertainty gripped the nation on Wednesday, with both sides calling for legions of supporters to take to the streets.
Antigovernment demonstrators, accompanied by members of the security forces, heeded calls by the opposition leader Juan Guaidó to rise up against Mr. Maduro, in what he called the “final phase” in the ousting of the socialist leader. Each man appealed to his supporters to make a major, public show of strength on Wednesday, raising the risk of violent confrontation.
Venezuela has been on the brink for months. In January, the National Assembly refused to recognize Mr. Maduro’s re-election in a contest his critics said was rigged, and Mr. Guaidó declared himself interim president, a direct challenge to Mr. Maduro’s leadership.
On Tuesday, thousands rallied on the streets of the capital, where clashes broke out between opposition supporters and forces loyal to the president. But at the end of the day, Mr. Maduro was still in power, and he made an address to the nation Tuesday night from the presidential palace maintaining that he was still in control.
Here’s what we know as the country braces for a second day of protest.
A defiant Mr. Maduro appeared on national television Tuesday evening, flanked by top military officials and civilians at the Miraflores Palace. He denied claims from officials in Washington that he had been prepared to flee to Cuba until Russian authorities talked him into staying in Venezuela.
Russia’s foreign ministry called the American assertion of Russian involvement part of an information war.
Mr. Maduro called Tuesday’s actions an attempted coup and promised to hold opposition leaders responsible, but maintained that he was still in charge, saying, “the skirmish in Venezuela has been defeated.”
Mr. Guaidó contradicted that message in his own address Tuesday night. “This is not a coup in Venezuela,” he said; he described himself as the “legitimate commander of the armed forces,” in the process of bringing about a “peaceful transition.
