Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó and lawmakers who back him pushed their way into the legislative building on Tuesday following an attempt by rival legislators to take control of the congress.
Opposition leader Juan Guaido speaks at the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020. Guaidó and lawmakers who back him, pushed their way into the legislative building on Tuesday following an attempt by rival legislators to take control of the congress, and declared Guaidó the president of the only opposition-controlled institution.
Once inside, he led opposition lawmakers in boisterously signing the country’s anthem. Shortly thereafter, electricity in the building went out, but legislators continued in the dimly lit assembly, shouting into microphones that did not work to declare Guaidó the president of the only opposition-controlled institution.
“They do these things in part because they benefit from confusion,” said David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America, said of Maduro’s government. On Tuesday, Parra took a seat, purportedly as the legislature’s president, and attempted to begin a session to discuss woes including Venezuela’s gas shortages but fled with his allies as Guaidó made his way into the building.
Though the opposition hailed Tuesday’s events as a victory, they face a decidedly uphill battle in the months ahead. Congressional elections are due this year, which will force lawmakers to decide whether to participate in a vote while Maduro is still in office. That could further fracture the opposition at a time when many Venezuelans are reluctant to take to the streets in protest. An estimated 4.5 million have fled and those who remain are struggling to meet basic needs.
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