Venezuela’s opposition leader stepped up his campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro on Friday, calling for a “major demonstration” and rejecting an offer of talks with the socialist leader.
National Assembly head Juan Guaido, who proclaimed himself acting president during street rallies by tens of thousands on Wednesday, said he wouldn’t attend a “fake dialogue” on a crisis that has left 26 dead this week in clashes between anti-Maduro activists and security forces.
After four years of economic pain that has left Venezuelans short of food and medicine and driven more than two million to flee the country — which sits on the world’s largest oil reserves — the opposition found its voice this month in Guaido after Maduro was sworn in for a second presidential term following controversial elections.
Mexico had offered to host talks between the rival leaders, and Maduro professed he was ready to go “wherever I have to.” But Guaido, who is backed by the US and several Latin American countries, told supporters in Caracas the public would remain in the streets “until we achieve an end to the usurpation, a transitional government and free elections.”
He accused Maduro’s regime of only offering talks after “repression” failed to achieve its objectives.
The European Union and US have ratcheted up the pressure on Maduro to agree to a new vote. An EU diplomat told AFP the bloc wanted “an immediate call for elections in the near future.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will underline US support for the Venezuelan people at a UN Security Council meeting Saturday and urge members to recognize Guaido as interim president, the State Department said.
