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On May 1st, rival demonstrations took place in Venezuela. According to US-Proclaimed Interim President Juan Guaido, more than 397 demonstrations took place across the country.
#1M 397 manifestaciones en toda Venezuela, 97 puntos de concentración, 23 de ellos brutalmente reprimidos, arrojando 32 detenidos y 25 heridos.
Estamos ante un régimen que perdió el control. Mientras más somos en las calles, más cerca estamos.#VamosConTodo pic.twitter.com/jGzK7oENR3
— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) May 2, 2019
“397 demonstrations throughout Venezuela, 97 points of concentration, 23 of them brutally repressed, throwing 32 detainees and 25 wounded. This is a regime that has lost control. The more we are in the streets, the closer we are.”
Following his failed April 30th coup attempt, the opposition leader claimed that Operacion Libertad hasn’t yet ended.
Ante el avance de la #OperaciónLibertad, el régimen cobarde trata de demostrar con represión focalizada un control que ya no tiene.
No le queda respuestas, no le queda nada. Se vieron débiles ayer y hoy lo están más, porque #Venezuela va con todo en las calles. pic.twitter.com/9d4QiSJU1A
— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) May 1, 2019
“In the face of the advance of the #OperaciónLibertad, the cowardly regime tries to demonstrate with focused repression a control that no longer has. It has no answers; it has nothing left. They were weak yesterday and today they are more, because it #Venezuela goes with everything in the streets.”
“If the regime thought we had reached maximum pressure, they cannot even imagine,” Guaido told thousands of supporters in eastern Caracas. “We have to remain in the streets.”
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In another part of Caracas, a rival protest in support of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro took place.
Maduro in an address to the people said that “foreign interference, a coup and armed conflict” were the wrong way for Venezuela.
This historic #1May witnessed a Monumental March of Workers who, with love and superior conscience, expressed the strong will of a people determined to defend freedom and sovereignty, at whatever cost is necessary. pic.twitter.com/NYLmLxhTIY
— Nicolás Maduro (@maduro_en) May 2, 2019
It was demonstrated that interference, coup and armed conflict are not the path for our beloved Venezuela. The route to resolve the differences will be always the constitutionality and mutual respect. Patriots will defeat violence and gain peace. pic.twitter.com/DsBFNalplA
— Nicolás Maduro (@maduro_en) May 1, 2019
In response to accusations of unanswered aggression by the country’s security forces, Maduro said that 8 military personnel were wounded by gunshots while performing their “constitutional duty.”
RT @vladimirpadrino: At the moment the S2 Antony Reinoso is entering the operating room due to a bullet wound. There are already 8 military personnel wounded by firearms in compliance with their constitutional duty, facing the coupist violence. […] https://t.co/DC2UM90Y6s
— Nicolás Maduro (@maduro_en) May 2, 2019
He further blamed US National Security Adviser John Bolton for the failed coup.
“John Bolton led yesterday’s [April 30] coup, I’m sure of that,” the president said.
“We have just defeated another plot from the right. They have not or will not be able to succeed with us under any circumstances. They cannot understand the absolute will to defend this Revolution, our Bolivarian Constitution, our national independence and the right of the people to build their future,” Maduro said.
Maduro called May 4th and 5th “Days of Great National Dialogue,” when the Popular power can assume a plan to rectify all mistakes in dealing with the opposition.
RT @PresidencialVen: #EnVivo | "I want to summon next Saturday. #4May and Sunday #5May to a great national day of dialogue, action and proposal of all the Popular Power. I want to assume a plan to rectify the mistakes in the middle of the battle! […] https://t.co/Zw6bQiiBNv
— Nicolás Maduro (@maduro_en) May 2, 2019
Finally, he said that coup attempts would not lead anybody to Miraflores. The only way was through elections.
RT @ VTVcanal8: #ENVIDEO | Pres. @NicolasMaduro: Whoever wants to get to Miraflores just has to fulfill a requirement, win the elections with the vote of the people #TrabajadoresPorLaPatria pic.twitter.com/b7FVhEjAzR
— Nicolás Maduro (@maduro_en) May 2, 2019
The US continued its rhetoric, with US National Security Adviser John Bolton saying that Venezuela was at a “delicate point” with violence against citizens.
He once more reiterated that the “Maduro dictatorship” has almost no approval among the people of Venezuela or “the service members of the military.”
Bolton said that about “25,000 Cuban security forces and the Russian presence all make it difficult for the people to express their will.”
The US National Security Adviser once more said that the opposition-led National Assembly was fairly elected and that Maduro’s seat was “free,” because he was “fraudulently elected.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the phone on May 1st.
The call happened on US initiative.
“The focus was on the situation in Venezuela, where on the eve of the opposition, with the clear support of the United States, attempted to seize power.
It was stressed on the Russian side that Washington’s interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, the threat against its leadership is a gross violation of international law. It was indicated that the continuation of aggressive steps is fraught with the most serious consequences.
Only the Venezuelan people have the right to determine their destiny, for which the dialogue of all political forces in the country is demanded, for which its Government has long called for.
A destructive external influence, especially a forceful one, has nothing to do with the democratic process,” the statement following the call read.
Finally, on the absurd side, Republican Senator Mario Diaz-Balart, appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight on April 30th and suggested that support Guaido’s opposition in Venezuela was justified and that Russia had already placed nuclear missiles in the South American country.
“Imagine if this regime that now is receiving a lot of international pressure survives, is it or is it not potentially a green light, an open door for the Russians and for the Chinese and for others to increase their activity against our national security interest right here in our hemisphere,“ Diaz-Balart told Carlson.
Later, he tried to rectify the situation by saying that he meant the “Russians were already there,” and not nuclear missiles.
“When I said ‘they’re already there,’ I was reiterating that the Russians are already there – a point that I have made repeatedly,” he said “The points I was making was that Russia’s undue influence at our doorstep is a threat, but I was not indicating that Russia had placed nuclear weapons in Venezuela.”
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