Guaidó calls for more protests in Venezuela

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó urged his supporters to take to the streets again on Wednesday for a second day of protests against the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

The Associated Press and Reuters reported that Guaidó told his supporters in a video message late Tuesday that Maduro “doesn’t have the backing or the respect” of the country’s armed forces, most of whom remain allied with Maduro’s government.

{mosads}“We know that Maduro does not have the backing or the respect of the armed forces,” Guaidó said, according to Reuters. “We have seen that protest yields results. We should keep up the pressure.”

A group of Latin American nations and Canada known as the Lima Group issued a statement Tuesday night calling on the remainder of Venezuela’s military to switch sides and “to cease being instruments of the illegitimate regime for the oppression of the Venezuelan people.”

Guaidó earlier this week called his supporters to the streets for the “final phase” of a push to oust the country’s controversial leader.

Dozens of people were hurt in protests on Tuesday. 

The Trump administration threw its full support behind the uprising Tuesday after the U.S. had previously recognized Guaidó as the country’s legitimate ruler.

“Today interim President Juan Guaido announced start of Operación Libertad,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted. “The U.S. Government fully supports the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom and democracy. Democracy cannot be defeated.”