“Get out, Maduro” chanted the crowd of hundreds of thousands of protesters as they marched this Wednesday in Caracas, Venezuela.
In front of the crowd, holding a microphone and giving an ardent speech was Juan Guaidó, the President of Venezuela’s National Assembly, a government body that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro objects to recognize.
As the crowd cheered on, Guaidó raised his right hand and made an oath, declaring himself interim president of the country, and calling for new, transparent elections for what was once the richest country in Latin America.
Minutes later, as the news reached the world, the White House issued a statement in support of Guaidó’s temporary presidency.
“The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime and demanded freedom and the rule of law,” said President Trump in his statement. “The National Assembly invoked the country’s constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro illegitimate, and the office of the presidency therefore vacant.”
Trump’s statement also said that the U.S would hold Maduro’s regime responsible for any attacks on the Venezuelan population, saying that “all options are on the table” to sanction Venezuela.
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Vice President Mike Pence have also spoken against Maduro’s presidency.
Besides the United States, more than 10 other countries including Canada and Colombia have showed their support for Guaidó, and so far, only Mexico, Cuba, and Bolivia have declared their support for Nicolas Maduro’s government.
Yet despite many who have celebrated the news, experts hold that Maduro will likely remain in power, and many say that Guaidó won’t succeed, specifically due to Maduro’s strong hold over the country’s major political institutions.
Now, many fear that Venezuela is heading into a more dangerous political path.
Why are people protesting?
Once-considered one of the richest countries in Latin America, Venezuela is now plunged in one of the hemisphere’s worst economic and humanitarian crises.
Hyperinflation, a collapsed health system, food shortages, and unemployment are only some of the day-to-day problems that Venezuelans face.
Venezuela’s oil industry contributes to more than 90% of the country’s income, and after oil prices fell in 2010, former president Hugo Chávez declared an “economic war.”
When Chávez died in 2013, he appointed Nicolas Maduro, a former bus driver and loyal supporter of his, to become his successor. Many, including governmental leaders, saw Maduro’s regime as an illegitimate one and refused to acknowledge his leadership. And in 2016, after various attempts to remove Maduro failed, a political crisis unfolded, adding to the economic tensions.
In 2014, oil prices drastically fell again, and the economic situation worsened. Venezuela entered an economic crisis that left the country with a $150 billion debt, growing inflation, and millions unemployed. Many protesters hold that mismanagement and corruption on the part of the government attributed to the crisis just as much.
Today, over 80% of Venezuela’s population is considered to be living in poverty. People who once held PhDs and well-paying jobs can be seen scavenging in garbage dumps for crumbs, and some Venezuelan women who were once engineers and teachers are turning to prostitution in international grounds to support their families.
And those who have taken to the streets to protest the squalor of the country have been gunned down by police and governmental troops. Over 100 protesters have died, including many teenagers.
How has Maduro responded to everything that happened today?
Following a widely-boycotted election, Maduro, whose approval rating is below 20 percent, started his second term as president a couple of weeks ago. Today, him and his supporters held their own marches too, but the opposition overshadowed their efforts.
After the White House’s statement of support for Guaidó was made public, Maduro broke off diplomatic relations with the United States, asking U.S diplomats to leave the country within the next 72 hours.
Maduro said that the U.S is interfering with the country, and that today’s events were an imperial effort to disrupt peace in Venezuela.
“We’ve had enough interventionism, here we have dignity, damn it! Here is a people willing to defend this land,” said Maduro in a televised broadcast this afternoon.
Who is Juan Guaidó?
The 35-year-old engineer wasn’t a known figure until he was elected as the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly earlier this January.
The National Assembly is known for being controlled by the opposition, and upon becoming the President of the Assembly, Guaidó immediately set to work discrediting and attacking Maduro’s regime.
As a student, he organized protests against Hugo Chavez for more than a decade. And as a political activist, he has worked with Leopoldo Lopez, who has been jailed and tortured many times for organizing anti-government protests.
He says that he does not plan on becoming Venezuela’s next president, but rather to be the interim leader as the country prepares for fair, transparent elections.
“I swear to assume all the powers of the presidency to secure an end to the usurpation,” said Guaidó to the crowd.
