Police block protesters as tensions rise in Venezuela

Riot police blocked protesters as thousands of people took to the streets Saturday with tensions rising between opposition leader Juan Guaido and President Nicolas Maduro after crisis-wracked Venezuela emerged from the chaos of an electricity blackout. Both Guaido and Maduro, who are locked in a bitter power struggle for the right to lead the oil-rich South American nation, had asked their supporters to fill the streets of Caracas and other cities in rival demonstrations.

“We want to march! Yes we can!” shouted opposition protesters as riot police prevented them from accessing the street in east Caracas where their demonstration was due to take place. Overnight, security services had stopped the opposition from setting up a stage in an avenue where their protest was due to take place. “They think they can scare us but they will get a surprise form the people in the street,” Guaido tweeted.

 “They think they can wear us down, but there’s no way they can contain a population that has decided to end the usurpation,” added the leader of the opposition-controlled legislature, who is recognized as Venezuela’s interim president by more than 50 countries. Guaido is trying to force out Maduro -- whose May re-election he deems illegitimate -- in order to set up new elections. Maduro has asked his backers to march against “imperialism.”

“We’re continuing the battle and victory over the permanent and brutal aggression against our people,” Maduro wrote on Twitter. “Today, more than ever, we’re anti-imperialists. We will never surrender!” The mounting political pressure comes as services slowly returned to normal in Caracas and the states of Miranda and Vargas, home to the country’s international airport and main port. “The US empire once again underestimates the conscience and determination of Venezuela’s people,” tweeted Maduro, who has not been seen in public since the blackout began late Thursday afternoon.

“I assure them that every attempt at imperial aggression will be met with a forceful response from the patriots who love and valiantly defend our homeland.” The western regions of Barinas, Tachira and Zulia remained without electricity while in other states the supply was proving unstable. Hospitals had reported terrible problems and those with generators were using them only in emergencies. Flights were canceled, leaving hundreds of travelers stranded at airports. “The problem is food, I’d bought meat and it’s going bad. I’m going to the march because we need change. We’re fed up,” Luis Alvarez, a 51-year-old truck driver, said. Maduro had blamed the blackout on US sabotage and shut down offices and schools on Friday.

Large lines formed at the few gas stations open as people fetched fuel for generators. Some took gas from their cars. Scenes of chaos Marielsi Aray, a patient at the University Hospital in Caracas, died after her respirator stopped working. “The doctors tried to help her by pumping manually. They did everything they could, but with no electricity, what were they to do?” asked Jose Lugo, her distraught uncle. The putrid odor of rotting flesh hung around the entrance to Caracas’s main Bello Monte morgue, where refrigerators had stopped working and worried relatives gathered outside, waiting to be allowed to bury their dead. Following Maduro’s decision to close the borders to keep out desperately needed humanitarian aid, the country was completely isolated on Friday.