Tens of thousands of protesters were set to pour onto the streets of Caracas on Saturday to back opposition leader Juan Guaido's calls for early elections as international pressure increased on President Nicolas Maduro to step down. Major European countries have set a Sunday deadline for Maduro to call snap presidential elections. Failing that, they will join the United States in recognizing National Assembly speaker Guaido as Venezuela's interim president.
"Maduro's tyranny must end and must end now," US Vice President Mike Pence told a rally of exiled Venezuelans in Miami on the eve of the protest. Guaido's call for a massive show of popular support coincides with a huge pro-Maduro demonstration. The ruling Socialist party celebrates the 20th anniversary of the rise to power of Hugo Chavez, Maduro's late predecessor, on Saturday.
The "clear goal" of the march was "to accompany the ultimatum given by members of the European Union," Guaido said ahead of the march, which will begin outside the EU offices in eastern Caracas. "We are going to stage the biggest march in the history of Venezuela and our continent," he added. Guaido moved to expand his international support base by assuring Venezuela's main creditor China - a long-time ally of Venezuela's socialist regime - that he would honor bilateral agreements if successful in ousting Maduro.
The rival marches will take place in different districts of a tense Venezuelan capital. Maduro's supporters will concentrate in Plaza Bolivar in the heart of Caracas, 10 kilometers (six miles) from the EU offices. Clashes last week around the country left some 40 people dead, according to the United Nations. Chavez, the army officer whose oil-fueled spending raised millions of Venezuelans out of poverty, assumed office as Venezuela's president February 2, 1999 at the head of a socialist movement.
His hand-picked successor, Maduro, has presided over the oil-rich country's economic collapse and is widely denounced as a dictator for ruthlessly cracking down on dissent amid chronic shortages of food and medicines. Guaido, 35, is trying to force the socialist leader from power so he can set up a transitional government and hold new presidential elections. The United States and a dozen Latin American countries rapidly recognized Guaido after he declared himself acting president in a January 23 speech, posing a direct challenge to Maduro's authority.
Russia and China, though, have denounced US interventionism and voiced support for Maduro, whose regime owes both countries billions of dollars. Guaido told Saturday's edition of the South China Morning Post that he would not disrupt the relationship with China despite his close ties to the US. "China's support will be very important in boosting our country's economy and future development," he said in an email interview. "We are ready to begin a constructive relationship and dialogue with China as soon as possible."
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