CARACAS, Venezuela _ Supporters of Juan Guaido protested in Caracas in their first major showing in months as Venezuela's opposition leader seeks to revive his campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro.
A week after Maduro's ally Evo Morales was toppled in Bolivia, Guaido is seeking to boost thinning crowds that have grown apathetic since a botched uprising in April failed to remove Maduro. Protesters played drums and sang anti-Maduro songs as they gathered Saturday in the streets of eastern Caracas.
"I'm here because we cannot continue living like this," said protester Maribel Risquez, a 51-year-old hairdresser. "My 25-year-old son died of lung cancer because we couldn't find the medicines he needed. We have to protest without fear until we change this government."
Venezuela has been relatively quiet as Guaido lost momentum, even as violent protests wracked Latin American countries from Ecuador to Chile. Guaido drew crowds of hundreds of thousands at the start of the year, but many followers now doubt that he can unseat Maduro.
"Let's go to the streets to meet again for our greatest demand: Venezuela," Guaido said on Twitter. Maduro supporters also marched in downtown Caracas in support of the president.
Guaido's approval rating stood at 42% this month, down from more than 60% in February, according to a survey by Caracas pollster Datanalisis.
People walked along Francisco de Miranda Avenue in Caracas, waving Venezuela flags. "We want freedom, Bolivia did it, now it's Venezuela's turn," protesters shouted. Smaller demonstrations were held in several states of the country.
Masked police broke into the office of Popular Will, Guaido's party, and detained dozens of members for an hour while they stole from them, party leader Roland Carreno said.
"We call on the authorities to guarantee the right to peaceful assembly in today's demonstrations and to refrain from harassing demonstrators, journalists and organizers," the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Twitter.
The U.S. and more than 60 other nations recognize Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate head of state, but the country's armed forces and top court remain loyal to Maduro.
Morales quit as Bolivia's president on Nov. 10 following claims of electoral fraud that led to violent protests. Sen. Jeanine Anez, who took over after Morales fled the country, recognized Guaido as Venezuela's head of state.
On April 30, Guaido and his team appeared outside a Caracas airbase before dawn to announce an uprising, but the effort sputtered hours later when top military brass ignored the call and security forces took control of the streets. Since then, more than a dozen opposition lawmakers have had their legislative immunity stripped, several have left the country and others are hiding out in local embassies or safe houses.
While a recent economic liberalization means severe shortages of goods have eased, the large majority of Venezuelans still can't afford them. Power, water and gasoline outages are an everyday occurrence across the country and inflation is running at an 11,000% annualized rate, according to Bloomberg's Cafe con Leche index.
While declining oil sales and U.S. sanctions have limited Maduro's ability to operate, he recently began negotiations with opposition splinter groups, a strategy critics say is meant to give his administration sufficient legitimacy to avoid further measures and continue governing.
