Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro sought to rally the military on Thursday in the wake of what he terms as an unsuccessful coup against him.
He called on the armed forces to oppose anyone involved in opposition leader Juan Guaido’s latest attempt to oust his regime.
“The time for combat has arrived, the time has arrived to give an example to history and the world and to say that in Venezuela there are armed forces … united like never before, defeating coup attempts of traitors who sell themselves to the dollars from Washington,” Maduro told 4,500 military personnel at a televised event.
“No one can be afraid, it is the hour to defend our right to peace,” Maduro said with Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and military operations chief Remigio Ceballos at his side who declared allegiance.
Maduro said the army was “united, cohesive and subordinate to their constitutional mandate” just two days after Venezuelans took to the streets to try and force him from power. Military support for the coup failed to materialize substantially on Wednesday.
Four people died and more than 100 injured in the two days of protests led by Gauido, with Leopoldo Lopez at his side.
On Wednesday, Lopez was also the subject of an arrest warrant after violating a house arrest order. Lopez sought refuge at the Chilean embassy with his wife and daughter before moving to the residence of the Spanish ambassador. Spain said they have no intention of handing him over to Venezuelan authorities.
However, Guaido told DW on Wednesday that the “military no longer backs Maduro,” yet, despite small numbers of defections from the armed forces, there has been no mass exodus.
There was fighting between factions near Carlota air base, where Guaido made his declaration of the “final phase” of Maduro’s ouster. Demonstrators were reportedly trying to dismantle the barriers to the base.
Maduro said Guaido’s actions “will not go unpunished.” For his part, Guaido warned: “The regime will try to increase the repression, it will try to persecute me, to stage a coup d’etat.”
