Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro proposed early parliamentary elections on Saturday, seeking to shore up his crumbling rule after a senior general defected to the opposition and tens of thousands thronged the streets in protest at his government.
As domestic and international pressure on Mr Maduro to step down mounts, a senior air force general disavowed him in a video that circulated earlier on Saturday, expressing his allegiance to parliament head and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido.
The military's support is crucial for Mr Maduro, who is deeply unpopular, largely due to an unprecedented economic crisis that has prompted an exodus of millions. Mr Maduro claims he is victim of a coup directed by the United States.
In a speech to supporters, Mr Maduro said the powerful government-controlled Constituent Assembly would debate calling early elections for the National Assembly parliament, which is opposition-controlled.
Mr Guaido has called for a new, fair presidential election after the disputed vote won by Mr Maduro last year.
“You want elections? You want early elections? We are going to have parliamentary elections,” Mr Maduro told a pro-government rally in Caracas, held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez’s first inauguration as president. The parliamentary elections had been scheduled for 2020.
"There is no dictatorship in Venezuela, nor will there be," said Mr Maduro.
Washington, along with many countries in the western hemisphere, has denounced Mr Maduro as a dictator and recognised Mr Guaido as the legitimate president, announcing this week potentially crippling sanctions that are likely to further weaken the OPEC nation’s struggling oil industry.
While small rebellions against Mr Maduro have broken out in Venezuela’s armed forces in recent months, there has been no large scale military uprising against him.
However, general Francisco Yanez of the air force’s high command became the first active Venezuelan general to recognize Mr Guaido since he proclaimed himself president on January 23rd. Venezuela’s chief military attache to the United States also said he was defecting last week.
“People of Venezuela, 90 per cent of the armed forces of Venezuela are not with the dictator, they are with the people of Venezuela,” Mr Yanez said in the video.
“Already the transition to democracy is imminent.”
Treason
On its Twitter account, the air force’s high command accused the general of treason.
At an opposition rally in Caracas, Mr Guaido told his supporters he expected more to follow Mr Yanez’s example. He has offered the military and public officials amnesty if they defect.
“I am certain many officials and soldiers will repeat this gesture, very soon, very soon,” he said.
The rally was one of many nationwide on Saturday, where demonstrators decked out in the yellow, red and blue of the Venezuelan flag honked horns, pounded on drums and chanted “Guaido, Guaido, Guaido.”
“It’s been years of destruction of companies and poverty,” said Pedro Gimenez (51) a worker in an aluminium factory in the southern state of Bolivar. “We want a better present and future and we are about to achieve that.”
In a possible sign of Mr Maduro’s weakening support, riot police who had planned on blocking demonstrators from reaching the rallies decided to let them pass in at least three cities, according to Mr Guaido and Reuters witnesses.
Humanitarian aid would soon flow into crisis-stricken Venezuela from collection points in Brazil, Colombia and a Caribbean island, Mr Guaido said, without specifying who was providing the aid.
On Friday, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said that the United States stood "ready to provide assistance to the people of Venezuela."
Mr Guaido said the opposition would not let up on protests until Mr Maduro stepped down and allowed free elections. The self-declared president has no control over state institutions or any functions of day-to-day governance.
As well as the United States, Canada and several Latin American nations have already officially recognised Mr Guaido. Some European Union member states are expected to officially recognize Mr Guaido next week, while others will likely take a more cautious stance of support.
Washington has imposed sweeping sanctions on state-owned oil firm PDVSA.
“(US president Donald) Trump is imposing measures because he is the dictator of the world and thinks we are his slaves,” said Gregory Carrasquel (35) at the pro-government rally in Caracas, attended by many public sector workers wearing the trademark red socialist shirts.
“For us Venezuelans, there is only one president – president Nicolas Maduro.”
Mr Maduro’s adversaries say he has run roughshod over democratic institutions and destroyed the once-buoyant economy through a corruption-riddled exchange control system and arbitrary nationalisations.
Venezuela is suffering from hyperinflation, produce shortages and a mass migration of citizens to neighbouring Latin American countries – a situation likely to be worsened in the short term by the new sanctions.–PA