This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Venezuela’s political crisis has lurched into a potentially historic and violent new phase as an attempted military uprising erupted at the heart of its capital, Caracas, and the opposition leader Juan Guaidó urged supporters to take to the streets to force his rival Nicolás Maduro from power.

A day of high drama and profound uncertainty began shortly before dawn on Tuesday when Guaidó – who has been spearheading a three-month campaign to topple Maduro – posted an online video in which he appeared surrounded by dozens of armed troops near a key military installation in Caracas.

Venezuela opposition leader claims coup is under way – live news Read more

“The time is now,” Guaidó said outside the La Carlota airbase. “We are going to achieve freedom and democracy in Venezuela,” he added, urging supporters to take to the streets.

On Tuesday evening local time, Guaidó reiterated his call for action in a video message to his supporters posted on YouTube.

Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsin) Here is the full video. No mention of where Guaidó now is. https://t.co/EHG1nV0vz0

His said his rallying cry was not a coup but a “peaceful rebellion” and claimed that Maduro no longer had the backing of the armed forces, which have so far mostly remained loyal to the president.

It was unclear how many soldiers had joined Guaidó’s cause, but hundreds of civilian supporters gathered at the airbase, where troops loyal to Maduro fired teargas rounds, prompting a brief exchange of gunfire.

Later, television images showed clashes between government troops and protesters as a national guard armoured car drove into a crowd, leaving several people apparently injured. Other footage showed national guardsmen chasing away demonstrators on a nearby highway.

Play Video 2:22 'The moment is now': Venezuelan opposition leader Guaidó calls for coup – video

The head of a medical center near the site of the street battles told the Associated Press that doctors were treating 50 people, about half of whom had injuries from rubber bullets.

Maduro made no public appearance but said that he had spoken with military commanders who had shown him “total loyalty”. He tweeted: “Nerves of steel! I call for maximum popular mobilization to assure the victory of peace. We will win!”

Senior officials took to the airwaves to insist the uprising would fail.

Diosdado Cabello, Maduro’s second in command, claimed Venezuela was in a state of “absolute calm” but called on supporters to gather at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas “to defend the revolution, to defend Nicolás and to defend the legacy of Hugo Chávez”.

Q&A Why is Venezuela in such a bad way? Show Hide Venezuela’s current plight can be traced to a revolution that went terribly wrong. When Hugo Chávez, a former military officer, was elected president in 1998, he inherited a middle-income country plagued by deep inequality. Chávez had led an abortive coup attempt in 1992 and after winning power through the ballot box he set about transforming society. Chávez drove through a wide range of social reforms as part of his Bolivarian revolution, financed with the help of high oil profits – but he also bypassed parliament with a new constitution in 1999. The muzzling of parliamentary democracy – and the spread of corruption and mismanagement in state-run enterprises – intensified after 2010 amid falling oil prices. Chávez’s “economic war” against shortages led to hyperinflation and the collapse of private sector industry. The implosion in the economy between 2013 and 2017 was worse than the US in the Great Depression. In an attempt to stabilise the economy and control prices of essential goods, Chávez introduced strict controls on foreign currency exchange, but the mechanism soon became a tool for corruption. When Chávez died of cancer, his place was taken by his foreign minister, Nicolás Maduro, who has intensified his mentor’s approach of responding to the economic downward spiral by concentrating power, ruling by decree and political repression. Photograph: HANDOUT/X80001

Some 500 Maduro supporters gathered at Miraflores to show their support for the president, including Elsa Aguilar, 50, who travelled down from Jardines de El Valle, a working-class area in west Caracas, at first light.

“As soon as I heard the news I came here to fight for my country against these disasters who want to bring in the US through their lackeys here in Venezuela,” said Aguilar, who said she was a member of the Bolivarian Militia – a group set up under Hugo Chávez in which civilians receive military training. “We’re well-organized and we know what to do in moments like this,” she said.

In Washington, senior US officials declared full-throated support for the fresh attempt to topple Maduro, with Donald Trump tweeting: “The United States stands with the People of Venezuela and their Freedom!”

Russia – which has backed Maduro financially and militarily – accused the Venezuelan opposition of resorting to “violent methods of confrontation”.

Violence spills over in heart of Caracas as thousands answer Guaidó's call Read more

“Instead of peacefully settling political differences, they have taken a course designed to whip up conflict, and provoke breaches of public order and clashes involving the armed forces,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

Even among Guaidó’s allies, there were questions about whether his high-stakes gamble would pay off. “After this, they will either be arrested or Maduro will leave,” Brazil’s vice-president, Hamilton Mourão, told reporters. “There is no other way out.”

Those concerns were reinforced later on Tuesday when it emerged that one of the uprising’s key leaders – Guaidó’s mentor, Leopoldo López – had taken refuge in Chilean embassy in Caracas with his family.

However, Antonio Ledezma, a former mayor of Caracas and opposition politician, said López has not requested asylum and was “no longer in the diplomatic residence”.

At an afternoon rally in the city’s Altamira Plaza, Guaidó insisted victory was within sight. “We will advance, we will resist and we will carry on in the streets,” Guaidó vowed, surrounded by a number of green-clad rifle-toting troops who had defected to his side.

“Can we or can’t we?” Guaidó asked supporters. “¡Sí se puede!” they cheered back. (“Yes we can!”)

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A man distributes food to soldiers in Caracas. Photograph: Yuri Cortéz/AFP/Getty Images

And there were signs that the rebellion was spreading across the country, with reports of pro-opposition protests in major cities including Valencia, Puerto Ordaz, Barquisimeto as well as Caracas.

As she took to the streets with Venezuela’s tricolor flag draped over her shoulders, Mariana Otero, a 32-year-old homemaker, called on members of Venezuela’s diaspora to return home to watch what she called the liberation of their country.

“We will see each other in a free Venezuela – the Venezuela that we all want,” she said.

Cecilia Fernández, 69, an accountant and professor at a private university in Caracas, said the people of Venezuela were “retaking history”.

She said: “We are a country of liberators. From now, on, we will not stop until we get freedom.”

Venezuela’s long-running political crisis erupted in January after Guaidó, the young head of its opposition-run parliament, proclaimed himself the country’s rightful interim leader, arguing that Maduro had stolen last year’s election and “usurped” power.

Profile Who is Juan Guaidó? Show Hide The opposition leader Juan Guaidó was almost unknown both inside and outside Venezuela until the start of this year. Guaidó was made chairman of the national assembly in January because it was the turn of his party, Voluntad Popular (People’s Will). At 35, he was a junior member of his party but its leaders were either under house arrest, in hiding or in exile. He declared himself "interim president" that month, resting his claim on a clause in the constitution that allows the legislature to take power temporarily and call new elections if it deems the president to be failing to fulfil basic duties or to have vacated the post. Guaidó's relative obscurity initially proved an advantage in a country where the opposition has generally failed to distinguish itself, losing its nerve at critical moments, succumbing to infighting, and getting involved in a failed coup against Hugo Chávez in 2002. He inspired a huge wave of protests inside Venezuela with a message of peaceful change, and won widespread international support. Countries from Europe to the US and regional powers recognised him as Venezuela's legitimate president, handing him control of bank accounts and Venezuelan assets along with the formal recognition. As months dragged on however, Guaidó's hope of winning a wave of military defections that would end the rule of Nicolás Maduro seemed to fade, leaving his movement in an uneasy limbo - self-declared president but with no power. He raised concerns inside Venezuela and internationally when he appeared to hint at the possibility of military intervention after a failed attempt to bring humanitarian aid into the country in February. Questions have also been raised about the bedfellows Guaidó has chosen in what he calls his bid to rescue Venezuela. His main international backer is Donald Trump.

Another key regional supporter is Brazil’s far-right firebrand president, Jair Bolsonaro, known for his hostility to human rights and his fondness for dictatorship. Despite these characteristics, Guaidó has praised what he called Bolsonaro’s “commitment to and for democracy [and] human rights”. Photograph: Luis Robayo/AFP

Dozens of western governments – including the United States – swung behind Guaidó’s bid to unseat Maduro and it looked as though Maduro’s downfall could be imminent.

In recent weeks, Guaidó’s challenge had appeared to die down, but that impasse ended on Tuesday morning.

Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, called on Venezuela’s armed forces (known in Spanish by the initials FANB) to back Guaidó. “The FANB must protect the constitution and the Venezuelan people. It should stand by the national assembly and the legitimate institutions against the usurpation of democracy. The United States stands with the people of Venezuela,” he tweeted.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Civilians take cover during clashes with security forces in Caracas. Photograph: Yuri Cortéz/AFP/Getty Images

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has pledged to do “whatever is possible” to topple Maduro, tweeted his support for the Venezuelan people, who he said were “enslaved by [a] dictatorship”. “Brazil is on the side of the people of Venezuela, President Juan Guaidó and liberty for Venezuelans,” he tweeted.

But Maduro’s allies in the region – including Cuba and Bolivia – expressed support for the embattled leader.

Evo Morales, the Bolivian president, urged Latin American governments “to condemn the coup d’état in Venezuela and keep the violence from claiming innocent lives.” He blamed the US for “provoking violence and death in Venezuela”.