Live Venezuela updates: Opposing rallies continue as U.S. officials discuss options
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro remains in control of the country’s military a day after opposition leaders called for an uprising, setting the stage for opposing demonstrations in the nation’s capital Wednesday.
Tuesday morning’s call to action from Interim President Juan Guaidó sparked marches in the streets of Caracas and an impassioned reaction from South Florida’s Venezuelan exile community. As the day wore on, anxious anticipation faded into quiet resignation after police broke up groups of demonstrators and uncertainty settled in as it became apparent Guaidó did not have the backing of Venezuela’s military. Top military officials remained with Maduro, who pledged to prosecute organizers of what he has called an attempted coup.
Both men have called for their supporters to rally Wednesday. U.S. officials are watching closely as President Donald Trump has threatened to increase sanctions against Cuba, which has worked to keep Maduro in power. National Security Adviser John Bolton said “all options are on the table” regarding U.S. intervention, though there is no indication the U.S. is planning to send troops at this time.
In Miami, Venezuelan expats continue to watch and wait for updates in the news, on social media and directly from family and friends in their homeland.
Inuries rising
5 p.m.: The number of demonstrators injured during Venezuela’s political upheaval continues to rise, The Associated Press reported. By late Wednesday afternoon, the Caracas hospital Salud Chacao had taken in 27 patients, Mayor Gustavo Duque said. About half of the patients were hit by buckshot and several sustained traumatic injuries, including one person who was shot in the foot.
During Tuesday’s uprising, more than 50 patients were admitted to the Caracas hospital after clashes between protesters and police.
Dueling demonstrations brought thousands of Venezuelans onto the streets Wednesday after Guaidó called for peaceful marches while Maduro supporters held a May Day rally in Caracas.
Competing rallies
1:30 p.m.: Guaidó addressed supporters Wednesday to tell them he believes people supporting his effort, which he calls “Operation Liberty,” need to put more pressure on Maduro, including a a general strike, according to The Associated Press. Despite the lack of military response on Tuesday, Guaidó maintained that his side is winning.
Diosdado Cabello, Socialist party leader, spoke at a pro-Maduro rally Wednesday. He countered Guaidó’s call for military leaders to join him on Tuesday by stating that the country’s armed forces stood “as a block” behind Maduro.
Top officials meeting at White House
1 p.m.: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, National Security Advisor John Bolton and Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan were headed to the White House later Wednesday to discuss options for Venezuela, Shanahan told the House defense appropriations subcommittee.
“There is not a situation or a scenario that we don’t have a contingency for,” Shanahan said.
Earlier Wednesday, Shanahan canceled a trip to Europe in order to be on hand as the U.S. weighed how to respond.
All options, including a potential military response are still on the table, Pompeo said in an interview Wednesday with Fox Business.
“The president has made very clear that all options are on the table, that certainly includes the military option,” Pompeo said.
Bolton calls DeSantis to talk Venezuela
11:30 a.m.: In Tallahassee, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that Bolton called him Wednesday morning to discuss the situation in Venezuela.
“[Bolton] called me pretty early in the morning to say, ‘Look things are moving in Venezuela. The day may end with either Guaidó in jail or Maduro in jail, we don’t know which one. We’re hoping it goes in the right direction,’” DeSantis said. “So yesterday was important. I think today will be important. Obviously we haven’t seen the final outcome like we would like to see.”
— EMILY MAHONEY
Another day of street demonstrations in Venezuela amid rumors of Maduro stepping down
11 a.m.: Venezuelan security forces were using tear gas and buckshot to disperse groups of protesters in Venezuela’s capital Wednesday, as interim President Juan Guaidó continues his push to oust leader Nicolás Maduro.
Local TV showed groups of the Bolivarian National Guard pulling up on motorcycles and firing tear-gas canisters into the crowd. While many demonstrators fell back, others confronted the forces heads on.
Read more from Miami Herald Andean bureau chief Jim Wyss.
“The president’s made it clear that all options are on the table.”
10:45 am.: At a hearing Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Washington, pressed U.S. Southern Command commander Adm. Craig Faller on how the U.S. will respond.
“I do want to emphasize how important it is to get a stable government in Venezuela, and my belief that the Maduro government is not legitimate,” Smith said.
At a separate congressional budget hearing, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford said the Pentagon was working to gather additional intelligence on developments on the ground in Venezuela and was ready to do more.
“The president’s made it clear that all options are on the table,” Dunford said. The military will “support the president should he require more.”
— TARA COPP
‘They don’t have food. They don’t have medicines.’
10:30 a.m.: Jesús Aranguren, 81, was an economics professor at the University of Zulia in his hometown of Maracaibo before he relocated to the U.S. 18 years ago.
On Wednesday, he made his daily stop at El Arepazo Original in Doral with his friend Raul López after their morning walking routine, then stayed to help boost the spirits of fellow Venezuelans who may have lost hope after yesterday’s events.
“I’ve been in touch with my family in Venezuela using Whatsapp, and they aren’t so much scared as they are angry,’ said Aranguren, who has four sisters, a brother and eight nieces and nephews in the country.
“They don’t have food. They don’t have medicines. They don’t have school for their kids,” he said. “They are desperate. They are all planning to demonstrate today, even if it means risking their lives, because they can’t go on with the way things are now.”
Back to daily routine
9 a.m.: In Doral, a city in West Miami-Dade with a large Venezuelan population, the mood was more muted Wednesday.
The atmosphere at El Arepazo restaurant, which became a community rallying site on Tuesday, had returned to its normal weekday morning routine, with regulars dropping by for breakfast on their way to work.
Few paid attention to the nine flat-screen TVs around the dining area, which were all tuned to live news broadcasts of the situation in Venezuela.
Jesus Alvarez, 32, lives in Hialeah Gardens but stopped by the restaurant on Wednesday morning as a sign of support for his Venezuelan friends.
“I’m here because as a Cuban, I’m embarrassed by the bad people who govern my country, who are behind this whole mess,” said Alvarez, who works as a handyman.
“From the first time I heard Maduro speak, I’ve been telling my Venezuelan friends to get ready for what was coming,” he said. “They should have done what they did yesterday during the last protest, when they had a million people out in the street. No one could have stopped them then. I don’t think they’ll have another chance like that one again.”
Trump’s saber-rattling risks expectations of U.S. force if violence escalates
8 a.m.: Regime change in Venezuela would be a momentous victory for Trump. But after backing an outgunned and outmanned opposition leader and bluffing for months at the possibility of military intervention, Trump has also backed himself into something of a corner.
He’s risked creating dangerous expectations that he’ll use force if push comes to shove in a country where both Russia and Cuba are deeply invested. And with the Venezuelan military literally driving over protesters in the streets, there is already pressure building for him to send in troops.
Read more from Herald political reporter David Smiley.
This story was originally published May 1, 2019 at 10:39 AM.