Venezuela crisis: Guaido eyes international cooperation

Venezuela crisis: Guaido eyes international cooperation

Juan Guaido (C), head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, delivers a speech at the Francisco de Miranda avenue, in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 23, 2019. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday announced he was severing "diplomatic and political" ties with the United States after the U.S. authorities recognized the opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation

C0aracas, March 31 (IANS) Venezuela's National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido, acknowledged as country's acting President by more than 50 nations, has said that he is ready to invoke the article of the Constitution that allows him to call international missions to the country for the cooperation they can provide.

"When we spoke about Article 187 and we said, of course we're going to invoke it, now, as part of that cooperation because it indicates what our allies can and cannot do, not what we can do," Efe news quoted Guaido as saying to a group of supporters in Miranda state on Saturday.

"We're going to insist on that cooperation," he said.

Some sectors of the opposition over the past few days have called for the application of Article 187.11 of the Constitution that enables the use of "Venezuelan military missions abroad or foreign missions in this country."

The Venezuelan opposition says the country is plunged in a complex humanitarian crisis and has asked for donations from the international community to ease the emergency.

Some of that aid is being stored on Venezuela's borders with Brazil and Colombia, but the attempt to bring it into the country last Feb. 23 ended with clashes of the opposition with the police and armed forces when the Nicolas Maduro government refused to allow the humanitarian aid to be brought across the border.

Guaido, who this Saturday is on a tour of a number of events, again called on Venezuelans to "organize a disturbance" every time there are cuts in the electric service and the water supply, after a week of constant blackouts nationwide.

"We must organize a disturbance every time we need to demand our rights, enough of this fooling around," he said.

He also called for people to come together to express their discontent with the Nicolas Maduro government, which he again blamed for the problems with the power supply and with the country's entire economy, and said the movement he leads is far from having a power outage.

"Some people go around saying that the movement has already shut down, don't laugh. The only thing that has shut down is a regime that left the streets all over the country in darkness," he said.

Guaido said that nationwide there are "hundreds of places where people are demanding their rights," an allusion to small gatherings of the opposition in different places coordinating their actions.

"We're not asking for patience here, just the opposite, we're asking for organisation and action right now," he said.

The demonstrations by opposition groups come simultaneously with a Chavista march through Caracas.

Venezuela is going through an immense political crisis that only got worse when Maduro was sworn in last January to a new term in office, which is not accepted by the opposition and much of the international community. In response, Guaido proclaimed himself interim President.

--IANS

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