Venezuelans were expected to take to the streets on Wednesday for what opposition leader Juan Guaido pledged would be the “largest march” in the country’s history, a day after he called for the military to oust President Nicolas Maduro.
In his boldest effort yet to gain the support of the armed forces, Guaido appeared early Tuesday morning outside a Caracas air force base with dozens of National Guard members. That triggered a day of violent protests, leaving more than 100 injured but without any concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership.
“We know that Maduro does not have the backing or the respect of the armed forces,” Guaido said in a video message posted to his social media accounts on Tuesday evening. “We have seen that protest yields results. We should keep up the pressure.”
“Tomorrow, the first of May, we will have a large, millions-strong march of the working class,” Maduro said in a Tuesday night television address. “We have been confronting different types of aggression and attempted coups never before seen in our history.”
Guaido’s choice of International Workers’ Day for a major march comes as he is making appeals to union leaders and public workers, a traditional base of support for Maduro and his predecessor and mentor, the late President Hugo Chavez.