Video

Here’s Everything You Need To Know About The Uprising In Venezuela

REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins -

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Font Size:
  • Tensions in Venezuela escalated Tuesday after opposition leader Juan Guaido called upon the military to take up arms against President Nicolas Maduro.
  • Members of the military are split between supporting the Maduro regime or Guaido’s revolt, and the opposing sides exchanged gunfire in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas Tuesday.
  • Thousands of protesters are marching against Maduro. Government forces have taken to using tear gas and violence to dispel crowds, including ramming one crowd of protesters with an armored vehicle.
  • The conflict has attracted international attention as the U.S. continues to back Guaido. China and Russia support Maduro.

Armed conflict and protests rocked the Venezuelan capital of Caracas Tuesday after Juan Guaido, president of the National Assembly, called on the military to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido’s call came Tuesday morning in a three-minute video declaring the uprising as the “final phase” of his plan to oust Maduro as an illegitimate leader, according to CBS News. Members of the military friendly to Guaido’s cause surrounded the opposition leader in the video shot at La Carlota air base.

“The moment is now,” Guaido said, to launch what he called “Operation Liberty,” according to The Washington Post. Formerly detained journalist and activist Leopoldo Lopez also appeared in the video after Guaido forces freed him earlier Tuesday.

The Situation On The Ground

Guaido-backed military members along with thousands of protesters are marching through Caracas toward the Venezuelan Presidential Palace. It is unknown whether Maduro is at the palace, known as the Miraflores. (RELATED: WATCH: The Wildest Videos Of The Venezuela Uprising)

Maduro’s military forces have tangled with protesters while trying to disperse the large, and sometimes violent, crowds. Maduro’s forces have used tear gas and intimidation tactics, and, in at least one instance, military personnel rammed into a crowd of protesters with an armored vehicle appearing to injure several.

WATCH:

The civilians appeared to be threatening the military personnel inside the vehicle with rocks, sticks and other objects. Venezuela’s health ministry says at least 69 people have been injured so far in Tuesday’s uprising, BBC reports. (RELATED: Venezuela Banned Private Gun Ownership Less Than A Decade Ago)

Maduro’s forces shot tear gas into pro-Guaido crowds throughout Caracas, including at a city mall and around La Carlota. Several firefights have also broken out between members of the military supporting Maduro and Guaido.

WATCH:

Video footage on Twitter shows shots being fired on a key route to the La Carlota air force base in Caracas.

WATCH:

“Breaking: In Venezuela – national guards arresting/attacking other national guards,” tweeted Fox Business’ Trish Regan.

La Carlota, where Guaido’s uprising began, is situated in the heart of Caracas. Directly west is the Fuerte Tiuna military zone which stands between Guaido’s forces and the presidential palace of Miraflores. Fuerte Tiuna remains under Maduro’s control.

Protests have also reportedly sprung up across Venezuela in Anzoátegui, Aragua, Apure, Barinas, Carabobo, Cojedes, Guárico, Lara, Mérida, Miranda, Nueva Esparta, Táchira, Trujillo and Zulia, according to reporter Chrispher Abreu, a local Venezuelan journalist.

Maduro’s Reaction

President Maduro tweeted early Tuesday morning calling the military activity a coup and said that military leaders are fully loyal to him. “Nerves of Steel!” Maduro tweeted. “I have spoken with the commanders of all the REDIs and ZODI of the country, who have expressed their total loyalty to the people, to the Constitution and to the fatherland. I call for maximum popular mobilization to ensure the victory of peace. We Will win!”

Venezuela Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has denied that the Venezuelan military is revolting against Maduro. Arreaza blamed the conflict on the U.S. and accused Guaido of leading a “coup” against Maduro at the direction of “the Pentagon and Department of State, and by [U.S. National Security Adviser John] Bolton,” Arreaza said in an interview with Reuters.

The Maduro regime has ordered several media companies off the air since the revolt began. Regulators with Conatel, the Venezuelan agency that oversees telecommunications, ordered various cable and television companies to block both CNN International and the British network BBC from airing in the country. The regulators have also ordered at least one local radio station to stop broadcasting.

How Is The U.S. Responding?

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is monitoring the situation in Venezuela and supports the Venezuelan people. Trump has spoken about the revolt in Venezuela with other world leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron.

Both Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have also tweeted their support for Guaido and Operation Liberty.

The U.S. is prepared to provide economic relief to Venezuela, which is under a slew of U.S. sanctions, after Guaido is installed as interim president, according to a Tuesday statement from the U.S. Treasury. Arreaza characterized the U.S. Treasury’s statement as “another criminal confession of the Trump government,” referring to his claim that Guaido’s revolt was planned by U.S. officials.

Where Does The Rest Of The World Sit?

Brazil and Colombia — both sharing a border with Venezuela — are backing Guaido’s revolt, as is another South American country Peru.

“We fully support the interim President [Guaidó] in his struggle to restore democracy in Venezuela. The usurping and dictatorial regime of Maduro must come to an end,” Peru’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.

“Brazil is alongside the people of Venezuela, President Juan Guaidó and the freedom of Venezuelans,” Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted.

Maduro’s regime is backed by nearby Cuba, as well as China and Russia.

This is a developing story.

Follow Mary Margaret on Twitter.

Follow Tim Pearce on Twitter

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel