CARACAS, Venezuela _ Venezuelans poured into the streets for continued mass demonstrations Wednesday, a day after large-scale protests rocked the capital and other parts of the strife-ridden nation.
Juan Guaido, the opposition leader and self-declared interim president, has called for massive mobilizations against the government of President Nicolas Maduro on May Day, a public holiday here.
Maduro's supporters were also gathering in support of his embattled administration.
Opposition activists started to assemble in the early morning on the streets of Caracas, which has weathered years of demonstrations and counterprotests.
"There is no other road but to keep on protesting," said Victor Gonzalez, 38, a gardener here who planned to join anti-government activities planned for more than a dozen points across the capital.
Venezuela, an oil-rich nation that was long among the wealthiest countries in Latin America, has endured a recent history of political tumult, economic chaos and large-scale emigration. Much of the population of 32 million is fatigued from the ongoing turmoil, which has spawned food shortages, rampant crime, periodic power blackouts and hyper-inflation.
The opposition blames what it calls the incompetence and corruption of Maduro's leadership for the country's many woes. Maduro and his allies contend that a U.S. "economic war" _ including recently enhanced sanctions against Caracas and its key oil sector _ is fueling Venezuela's disarray.
On Tuesday, Guaido, with robust U.S. backing, declared that his movement was entering the "final phase" of its campaign to oust Maduro, who was reelected last year to a second six-year term in balloting that the opposition and outside observers called rigged.
Guaido was chosen president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly in January; he then labeled Maduro a "usurper" and said he was assuming the mantle of acting president. He has since been recognized as the country's leader by some 50 nations, led by the United States.
But a day of running street battles on Tuesday between the opposition and government forces failed to topple Maduro _ who has denounced the protests as part of a U.S.-backed "coup" meant to ensure Washington's domination of Venezuela's vast resources and its domestic and foreign policies.
The opposition also appeared to fail Tuesday in its stated effort to flip the Venezuelan military, whose top brass has remained publicly supportive of Maduro's socialist government. Turning the military leadership is a key objective of Guaido's self-declared government.
U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo told CNN that Maduro was "ready" to abandon the country Tuesday on a plane for Havana but that Russian authorities had convinced him to stay. Russia, a key backer of Maduro's administration, denied the allegation, calling the assertion part of Washington's "information war" against the Venezuelan government.
Venezuela is a close ally of Cuba and Nicaragua, all socialist nations that John Bolton, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, has dubbed the "troika of tyranny."
The leftist leaders of the three countries have accused the Trump administration of targeting them because of their refusal to accede to what they call Washington's determination to dominate the region politically and economically. The Trump administration says it is seeking to foster democracy and "reject the forces of communism and socialism in this hemisphere," as Bolton declared last month.
On Wednesday, Bolton repeated the Trump administration's assertion that key members of Maduro's government have been negotiating with the opposition. Bolton said Maduro was "surrounded by scorpions in a bottle, and it's only a matter of time."
Trump has aggressively pursued a policy of seeking to overthrow Maduro's government, which Washington describes as a dictatorship _ a description rejected by Maduro and his supporters.
Maduro was first elected president in 2013 after the death of his patron, the late Hugo Chavez, a longtime leftist firebrand and U.S. antagonist.
In a defiant appearance on state television late Tuesday, Maduro denied the U.S. allegations that he was ready to abandon the country and called for a huge pro-government turnout on May 1 _ which in Venezuela, as in many other countries, is seen as a day to pay homage to international labor.
"Tomorrow we will have a great mobilization of the country's working classes," Maduro vowed. "To the streets to win peace!"
