The socialist regime in Venezuela blocked roads to prevent President Juan Guaidó from attending a rally in Barquisimeto, the 35-year-old claimed on Sunday.
Mass crowds of people turned out to the city of Barquisimeto in Lara State in the hope of seeing Guaidó, who has energized the opposition since being appointed interim president in January.
“Today we had a meeting planned, were going to embrace the streets of Lara that filled from end to end,” Guaidó said, according to Reuters, without commenting on the specifics of the incident. “Today the dictatorship blocked the path, the dictatorship did not allow us to arrive in Barquisimeto, but it will not prevent us from seeing each other.”
Guaidó and other opposition leaders are currently planning protests for Wednesday, May 1st, in what he has claimed will be the “the largest march in Venezuela’s history” that he also believes will be the “definitive phase” of his effort to seize power and remove Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship from office.
Guaidó’s efforts to topple the Maduro regime have so far proved unsuccessful, although it is believed that the socialist regime is losing support with every passing day as the country’s economic and humanitarian crisis deepens. Last month, Guaidó announced a campaign known as “Operation Freedom,” which involves the mass mobilization of people across the country to the streets demanding an end to dictatorship.
Guaidó recently revealed he had held secret discussions with various military leaders over their backing of Maduro, but refused to provide details. “We have of course had very discreet conversations with the military, but now is not the time to share their content because unfortunately, we are in the midst of a dictatorship, and fighting against persecution is the order of the day,” he said at the time.
Guaidó and the opposition movement is also benefitting from the full support of the United States and other Western democracies, the majority of whom have recognized him as the country’s legitimate president. The U.S. has continued to step up sanctions against Maduro and other key organs of the regime, although allies such as Russia and China have pledged to help them overcome these difficulties with both economic and military support.
There remain serious concerns about Guaidó’s safety. The regime has stripped him of parliamentary immunity from prosecution and arrested his chief of staff. This weekend, opposition lawmaker and Guaidó ally Gilber Caro was detained by police and the regime’s intelligence agency summoned 11 of Guaidó’s staff members for interviews.
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