Maduro faces backlash from Chavistas amid Venezuela upheaval: ‘My hopes are set on a change’

‘Most of the neighbours that used to support the government – they took to the streets this time’

People try to listen to Juan Guaido as he speaks after attending mass on Sunday (AP)

Venezuela is facing an atypical moment: two men claim to be the country’s president.

On one side is Nicolas Maduro, the late Hugo Chavez’s handpicked successor, elected president in May 2018. A re-election that was widely derided as fraudulent, with opposition politicians barred from running and the electoral board run by Maduro loyalists.

On the other side is Juan Guaido, the 35-year-old engineer, who last week proclaimed himself interim president of Venezuela. Guaido was recently elected head of Venezuela’s national assembly, an institution stripped of its power by the government in 2017.

Guaido argues Maduro is an illegitimate leader. Maduro, for his part, insists his electoral victory was absolute and refuses to relinquish power, calling the situation a “coup”.

In the middle of this political crisis there’s an entire population who continue to live their lives in a mixture of doubt, fear and hope.

“That day I woke up confused,” says Erlys Figueredo, a 60-year-old caregiver. “People said we had a new president.”

Figueredo, who started waiting at dawn to buy a gas cylinder in Petare, a working-class neighbourhood in Caracas, seems more concerned about the line than politics.

Oil-rich Venezuela has been enduring an economic crisis since 2014, creating shortages of everything, including home cooking gas.

“I don’t know what is happening. I just know that Maduro is the one who has me like this: waiting in line forever.”

A few blocks away, waiting in another line, is Leida Blanco.

“The truth is that I don’t know that boy [Guaido],” says Blanco, 45, as she waits for the bus that will take her to work. “But it would be worth it to have hope in him.”

I don’t know what is happening. I just know that Maduro is the one who has me like this: waiting in line forever 

Erlys Figueredo, caregiver 

Blanco is originally from Colombia and works as a house cleaner. She says when she arrived in Venezuela 15 years ago “it was a prosperous country – now we can barely get by”.

Before taking the oath in front of thousands of supporters in Caracas, Guaido was relatively unknown, both inside and outside the country.

Felix Seijas, a political analyst and director of the Delphos polling agency, says that at the very beginning of the year Guaido was unknown to 97 per cent of people – by mid-January he was supported by 60 per cent of people surveyed.

“This is an important step to bring democracy back,” says Jesus Hernandez, a 33-year-old mechanical engineer who’s been actively campaigning for a change of regime for years.

“Venezuelans are on the street, they want this to happen and it’s finally happening.”

The interim presidency was recognised by the United States, at least until free and fair elections could take place. This was followed by a growing list of Latin American nations.

Maduro, who was sworn in for a second presidential term earlier this month, has the support of Russia, China, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Bolivia. He ordered US diplomats to leave the country, but agreed to keep a few of them in the Venezuela for a month.

“We do not have diplomatic and political relations with them. I broke them,” Maduro said on Sunday during an interview with CNN Turk.

Ever since Chavez was in office jokes have floated around Venezuela about the possibility of foreign intervention.

“Bienvenidos sean los marines” – Welcome marines – or “Yo los recibo personalmente en el puerto” – I will personally receive them at the port – have been, for long, common jokes in the streets. And especially so in recent days, since Donald Trump officially recognised Guaido as interim president.

On Monday, John Bolton, the US national security adviser, was pictured holding a note which read “5,000 troops to Colombia” during an announcement of fresh sanctions against Venezuela.

“At least if the United States intervenes we could get rid of Maduro,” says Zaida Rodriguez, a 56-year-old housekeeper from Valencia, with her tongue firmly in her cheek.

“Deep inside, many people in Venezuela flirt with the idea of an intervention,” says Andres Rondon, 62, a former diplomat and now a consultant.

“We are a country that has lost hope. There is nothing worse than losing hope, which is why many consider something as extreme as a foreign intervention,” he says, while insisting that for him that wouldn’t be an option.

“Imperialism isn’t needed to intervene in a country to change its president,” says Alejandro Rondon, a 24-year-old management student and Maduro supporter.

“They do it differently. They support coups and disguise them as ‘constitutional actions’. It happened in Honduras, Paraguay and Brazil,” he adds.

The European Union has been slightly less firm in its reaction. Britain, France, Spain and Germany have threatened Maduro that they will recognised Guaido as interim president if new elections aren’t called within days.

As an additional measure of pressure, Trump has applied new sanctions to PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas company. According to a Treasury statement, all PDVSA assets and property subject to US jurisdiction are now blocked.

Discontent is undeniable, particularly in working-class neighbourhoods – traditionally strongholds of Chavismo – where most of last week’s protests took place. In some areas, residents set fire to barricades made of rubbish and tyres, while security forces fired teargas and rubber bullets.

“Most of the protests these days take place in the slums,” says Cesar Gonzalez, 18, who lives in a building near Cotiza, a working-class neighbourhood in west Caracas. “Most of the neighbours that used to support the government – they take to the streets this time.”

According to the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict, an NGO, 35 people died in protests across the country, at least 10 of them in Caracas. The legal group Foro Penal said almost 800 people were detained.

Two major nationwide protests have been called for Wednesday and Saturday when the EU ultimatum to Maduro expires.

Despite the amount of pressure Maduro’s government finds itself under, it still seems to have an ace up its sleeve: the armed forces. Last week Vladimir Padrino, Venezuela’s defence minister, denounced what he called a coup, and reiterated his loyalty to Maduro.

For years the armed forces have been put in charge of government operations such as food distribution and PDVSA. According to analysts, this is how loyalty from the armed forces has been kept, and also by turning a blind eye to their involvement in illegal activities.

For his part, Guaido is offering amnesty to the soldiers willing to abandon Maduro.

Despite growing uncertainty about the country’s future, life continues for most Venezuelans, many of whom struggle to survive with a broken economy.

“Inflation is eating us. Not even by increasing the salary 500 times will this be sustainable. Nobody can live like this,” argues Kelly Rivas, 33, a teacher from Catia.

“My hopes are set on a change.”