Guaido calls for Venezuela coup

Bloomberg

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido went to a military base in the nation’s capital to proclaim the end of socialist President Nicolas Maduro’s regime and called for a military uprising.
The outcome of the high-stakes gambit remained unclear as protesters gathered despite billowing tear gas and the regime promised punishment for any who joined a rebellion. No high-ranking officers had announced their support for Guaido, but hundreds of residents took to the streets to support him, with whistles and shouts of “coup.”
Leopoldo Lopez, Guaido’s ally and mentor long held under house arrest, was freed and accompanied him to La Carlota military base in Caracas, where they spoke on a highway outside as hundreds gathered. They were flanked by dozens of national guard members who concealed their faces with masks to signal their allegiance.
“The definitive cessation of the usurpation began today,” Guaido said in a video posted to social media. “Today, brave soldiers, brave patriots, brave men attached to the constitution have come to our call.”
It was unclear how many members of Venezuela’s armed forces had rallied to their side, but the uprising, which prompted residents to erupt and security forces to deploy riot forces, was the strongest bid yet to topple Maduro. Under his autocratic rule, the nation has fallen into grinding misery.
The mainstay oil industry is at a near standstill, the US has levied punishing sanctions and hyperinflation has led to the impoverishment of millions.
The regime promised the rebellion would be quelled.
Venezuela is “confronting and deactivating a small group of military traitors” who positioned themselves “to promote a coup d’etat against the constitution and the peace of the Republic,” Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said. He called on citizens to resist them.
Guaido, head of the National Assembly, has said the constitution makes him the nation’s rightful leader because Maduro stole his election last year.