Page 4 - WEB

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 16 april 2019
Support strong for Guaidó in devastated Venezuelan oil city

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ on Guaidó is only tighten-
Associated Press ing. The National Constitu-
MARACAIBO, Venezuela ent Assembly, stacked with
(AP) — Venezuelan oppo- Maduro loyalists, withdrew
sition leader Juan Guaidó Guaidó’s parliamentary im-
has met obstacles at nearly munity earlier this month,
every turn since he de- opening the path to pros-
clared presidential pow- ecute and arrest him for al-
ers in a bid to end socialist legedly violating the consti-
President Nicolas Maduro’s tution.
rule, and his visit to this Days earlier Guaidó’s chief
once-thriving oil center was of staff was jailed as an ac-
no different. cused terrorist.
He was forced to take a Guaidó said he has urged
boat to outmaneuver po- his international backers
lice roadblocks and reach to adopt a stance of “zero
throngs of supporters wait- tolerance” toward Venezu-
ing to hear him speak in the ela’s rampant corruption
sweltering heat in Maracai- and the mismanagement
bo, a city now infamous for of its resources.
its blackouts. Maduro boasts support
Security forces had from Russia, China and Tur-
blocked the bridge across key, but Guaidó dismissed
Lake Maracaibo just as Juan Guaidó, opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela, sits on a boat that as “more of a show”
Guaidó arrived on Sunday. with staff members before crossing Maracaibo Lake to reach the town of Cabimas, Venezuela than having any substance
Undeterred, the 35-year- where he will lead a rally, Sunday, April 14, 2019. amid Venezuela’s crisis.
old opposition leader and Associated Press Guaidó refuses to negoti-
his entourage boarded a stant activity have fallen residents of a city where comes at a time when he ate with Maduro.
private boat and sped off into disrepair, is a window temperatures regularly seeks to tap into popular “There’s no possibility of a
across the water. into a nation that has reach 100 degrees without frustration and anger to re- dialogue with Maduro,”
While Guaidó has gained plunged into chaos. air conditioning and refrig- energize his campaign. Guaidó said. “He’s the
backing from the United The power has returned for erators, spoiling food. In Some fear he’s leading yet problem.”
States and some 50 other most of Venezuela after a the streets, residents spend another fatally stalled op- Given the fading anti-gov-
nations, Maduro remains massive electrical grid fail- hours searching for water, position movement unable ernment protests and the
firmly entrenched nearly ure that blanketed most and schools barely open. to break free from Maduro. opposition’s refusal to open
three months into the strug- of the country’s 30 million Frustration spilled over for Guaidó has failed to win a a dialogue with Maduro,
gle for control of Venezu- residents for days starting several days in mid-March, critical mass of the armed the option of some sort of
ela. March 7. with mass looting by mobs forces away from Maduro U.S. military deployment
Guaidó has been stripped But Maracaibo hasn’t that overran shopping cen- or bring in international — starting with efforts to
of his immunity and faces bounced back. ters sacking 523 stores — shipments of humanitarian bolster humanitarian aid
the looming threat of arrest The city is a crumbling ver- many of which have not aid. deliveries to Venezuela —
— something he warned sion of its former self. Gush- reopened their doors. But in Maracaibo, a historic has been gaining strength,
would be a “big mistake.” ing oil wells that helped Residents say they live in opposition stronghold, he especially among some fig-
“It would only deepen the make a nation with the fear of a serious illness or was met Sunday by thou- ures in Washington.
crisis,” Guaidó told The As- world’s largest oil reserves injury. Doctors in the main sands who turned out at a “It is becoming clear that
sociated Press as the boat flush with cash have given emergency hospital tell pa- series of rallies to hear him we will have to consider the
crossed the choppy waters. way to broken-down oil tients to bring their own wa- speak even as his voice use of American military as-
“The consequences would platforms that sit idle as ter to clean wounds and turned hoarse. sets to deliver aid,” Florida
only hurt the regime.” nearby shores are black even the most basic items Several thousand follow- Sen. Rick Scott said last
Maracaibo, Venezuela’s with oozing crude. like aspirin are lacking. ers waited more than four week at the American En-
second-largest city of 1.5 Maracaibo has endured Guaidó’s first visit to Mara- hours in the middle of one terprise Institute in Washing-
million where refineries that rampant blackouts for caibo since declaring pres- of the city’s main avenues. ton. “Maduro and his thugs
once hummed with con- more than a year, leaving idential powers on Jan. 23 The visit came as pressure have left us no choice.”q

Nicaragua gov’t says it will guarantee safe return of exiles

By GABRIELA SELSER ment said in a statement. the same government that fled the country, mostly to who maintained he is ac-
Associated Press The International Organi- threatened them, perse- Costa Rica. The Civic Alli- cused falsely of violent acts
MANAGUA, Nicaragua zation for Migration would cuted them, killed their ance believes there are at during the protests.
(AP) — Nicaragua’s gov- provide technical support. relatives and occupied least 160 people who fled He also said President Dan-
ernment said Monday it The government made the their houses is now going the country while facing an iel Ortega is trying to relieve
will implement a program proposal to the opposition to safeguard their lives and arrest order. international pressure on his
to guarantee the safe re- Civic Alliance on April 10, safety,” Solís said. Jairo Bonilla, a student pro- government.
turn of exiles, a proposal but said it didn’t reach a According to the Inter- test leader who left to Cos- “He wants to make it seem
the opposition dismissed as consensus. American Commission on ta Rica last year, said he still like everything is normal in
“absurd.” Anyone who fled Alliance director Azahálea Human Rights, at least 325 receives daily threats from Nicaragua, that Nicaragua
in the past year and does Solís said the group reject- people have been killed government supporters. is negotiating when every
not have an open court ed the proposal as “ab- during the past year of un- “For us as exiles there is no day they are killing more
case or formal accusation surd.” rest. The commission esti- guarantee that we could people, they are arresting
against them would be eli- “It’s ridiculous to act like mates there are more than return and nothing would more people without the
gible to return, the govern- the exiles would believe 52,000 people who have happen to us,” said Bonilla, world realizing it,” he said.q