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Venezuelans Take to the Caracas Streets to Pressure Maduro

Venezuelans Take to the Streets of Caracas to Pressure Maduro

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuelans turned out of their homes and offices Wednesday, filling the streets of Caracas in the latest defiant demonstration against President Nicolas Maduro.

Thousands of opposition supporters gathered in a second nationwide protest called by National Assembly President Juan Guaido, who is appealing to world leaders and, crucially, the armed forces to recognize him as the rightful head of state.

Venezuelans Take to the Caracas Streets to Pressure Maduro

About 30 people draped in Venezuelan flags and blowing whistles blocked Romulo Gallegos avenue in eastern Caracas, chanting "Guaido! Guaido!" Near Altamira’s business district, men and women in office clothes walked out of their buildings and stood on the sidewalks. Passing cars honked to join in the protest.

“I want to see my country free; enough of so much repression. I am here for my son, for my family and for all my friends who have left the country," said 40-year-old Nancy Torres, a physiotherapist who lives in the Horizonte neighborhood. “We don’t have food, we don’t have medicine, they are killing us. We want free elections.”

The demonstration seemed most popular in eastern Caracas, where dozens gathered every couple of blocks. Larger numbers were concentrated near squares and by Francisco de Miranda Avenue, where Guaido spoke to supporters a week ago.

Business in downtown Caracas, where most government buildings are, ran as usual. Shops, restaurants and banks remained open as people strolled or waited in line for public transportation. A number of police officers stood by Maduro’s residence, Miraflores Palace, and at lunch time, Central Bank staffers took a break on benches outside the building.

Starving Slum

But in Palo Verde, a working-class neighborhood near Petare, Caracas’s biggest slum, two dozen people chanted “We are not afraid!” They held signs reading, "Petare needs humanitarian aid."

Venezuelans Take to the Caracas Streets to Pressure Maduro

Major demonstrations kicked off in the crisis-wracked country last week after Guaido, the 35-year-old head of the National Assembly, invoked a resolution in Venezuela’s charter that would let him lead an interim government in the absence of a legitimate president. The U.S. and more than a dozen other nations quickly recognized Guaido and are pressuring Maduro to step down, accusing him of rigging his re-election last year and leading the once-rich country into ruinous poverty.

On Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions on Venezuelan crude, the country’s only significant export, and froze state bank accounts and assets. Last week, the European Union demanded the regime convene fresh elections within eight days.

Guaido has called for another nationwide protest Saturday when the EU’s deadline expires.

Publicity Tour

Despite dismal approval ratings and risking further imperiling the economy, Maduro has refused to back down. The 56-year-old anointed successor to the late Hugo Chavez insists his opponents are launching a U.S.-backed “coup” to end two decades of socialist rule. Since Guaido has laid claim to the presidency, Maduro has been touring the nation’s military installations as top generals and admirals swear their allegiance to him on state television.

Venezuelans Take to the Caracas Streets to Pressure Maduro

But in the downtown Caracas working-class neighborhood of La Candelaria, some were unswayed.

“It’s unfair people are dying due to lack of medicine,” Morelia Obelmejia, a 63-year-old homemaker, said Wednesday. “There is no rule of law anymore and Maduro doesn’t seem to care that we’re starving. They say they’re socialist and democrats, but they’re not"

--With assistance from Fabiola Zerpa.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Rosati in Caracas at arosati3@bloomberg.net;Alex Vasquez in Caracas Office at avasquez45@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Stephen Merelman, Paula Dwyer

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