Divided Venezuelans march in dueling protests

Bloomberg

Venezuelans marched in dueling protests, with the two men who claim to be the divided nation’s president each exhorting followers to hold firm and that victory was certain.
But only one man will prevail, and the unusual split-screen rallies offered no decisive hints, just more proof that Venezuela’s crisis is digging ever deeper and that the nation’s powerful military remains a key to the solution. The authoritarian president Nicolas Maduro attracted a larger crowd than expected, a show of force apparently aimed at suggesting he retains wide support.
“I have absolute certainty that change is very near in Venezuela,” a hoarse Juan Guaido, the 35-year-old legislator whom the National Assembly named interim president on January 23, told thousands of supporters on the streets of Caracas. He also has won the support of much of the outside world, including the US.
Only three miles away, Maduro, elected president in 2013 and who rigged his re-election last year, told a crowd of thousands of red-clad supporters and soldiers: “Venezuela doesn’t surrender. Venezuela charges forward.”
He was referring to the dozens of nations that have demanded that he hold new elections. Spain, the UK and Germany raised the pressure in a draft communique pushing the European Union to also
recognize Guaido. A copy was obtained by Bloomberg.

Defiant Maduro
It was difficult to tell whose march was bigger, but there were differences: Maduro’s felt more choreographed, ringed with buses that had carted in people and militias. Guaido’s protest, called for several days ago, had an air of spontaneity as Caracans streamed by foot from barrios to the prosperous area where the protest was held.
Maduro has ignored the demands for presidential elections but in his speech defiantly suggested instead that the National Assembly, which chose Guaido, call early elections.
“Do you want elections?” he asked the crowd. “Let’s go to elections then!” Both men have made a point of reaching out to the military, the most powerful institution in Venezuela. A top air force general broke with Maduro, saying on video: “The people have suffered enough.”
Guaido, who says he has reached out to factions in the military, was quick to point out the defection.
“You saw the general’s video today,” he told the crowd. “Soldiers of this nation, it is your role to reconstruct Venezuela.”
In his speech, Guaido announced that an international coalition would be bringing
humanitarian aid through
two points on Venezuela’s borders with Brazil, Colombia and also from an undisclosed Caribbean island.
He promised to give more details soon, as he urged the military to help and to refrain from violence. “You, soldier, are responsible for the humanitarian aid arriving,” Guaido told his sea of supporters.