• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > Venezuela

Venezuela: Thousands Rally in Streets for Labor Day After Failed Coup Attempt

  • People hold flags and shout slogans in rallies in Caracas, Venezuela.

    People hold flags and shout slogans in rallies in Caracas, Venezuela. | Photo: teleSUR

Published 1 May 2019
Opinion

"The revolutionary forces will move in a great caravan of vehicles and motorcycles, accompanied by people on foot," said member of the National Constituent Assembly Dario Vivas.

Labor forces and the Venezuelan people mobilized on the streets of Caracas Wednesday to celebrate International Workers' Day in honor of the workforce which has seen 20 years of the Bolivarian Revolution.

RELATED: 
Cuba Celebrates Labor Day with 'Unity, Commitment and Victory'

People began to gather in the morning in support of President Nicolas Maduro and his government, while others were taking to the streets to show their dissent — both crowds seemingly in the thousands according to photographic evidence and media reports. This comes one day after opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido, who illegally declared himself "interim president" in January, led a coup attempt against the government of Nicolas Maduro. 

"Tomorrow, the first of May, we will have a large, millions-strong march of the working class," Maduro said in a television address Tuesday. "We have been confronting different types of aggression and attempted coups never before seen in our history."

"Today the Venezuelan working class is mobilizing throughout the country to celebrate its day and defend its achievements, with a great march that will say NO to the coups and NOT to the Yankee interference. Nerves of steel, calm and sanity! Long live the workers of the fatherland!" Maduro tweeted.

Head of Mobilization and Events of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Dario Vivas reported that the demonstrations will move as a large caravan of vehicles and motorcycles, accompanied by people on foot starting from the El Valle Highway to the height of the Longaray Distributor in Caracas, and then go to the center of the capital city.

"It is important that each vehicle show the achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution and also that the workers express that with each grain of sand they promote the development of the country," he said.

People rally in Caracas, Venezuela, for International Workers' Day. | Source: teleSUR

Elsewhere in Latin America, millions of Cubans took to the streets on Wednesday to protest new sanctions imposed on the Caribbean island by the Trump administration and United States efforts to topple the government of socialist ally Venezuela.

The annual marches across the country, marking International Workers Day, provided the first opportunity to publicly protest a U.S. offensive against socialism in the region declared by John Bolton late last year.

Guaido faced a key test of support Wednesday after calling for the "largest march" in Venezuela's history to try to unseat President Nicolas Maduro from power despite the fact that leaders of the military continue to reaffirm their support for the socialist government and reject attempts to remove Maduro.

People fill the streets in Caracas, Venezuela, chanting and waving flags on Labor Day. | Source: teleSUR

The lawmaker Tuesday urged the armed forces to support his effort to oust Maduro and appeared outside an air force base with dozens of National Guard members. But there were no concrete signs of defection from the leadership of the armed forces or from the large majority of the army. 

Following his move against the government, protests took place across the capital Caracas and several clashes took place in which multiple injuries were reported. The coup attempt was immediately supported by the U.S. government of Donald Trump, while Mexico, Cuba, and Russia rejected the attempted coup and an escalation of violence, while Spain was quick to call for restraint and avoiding bloodshed. 


Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.