"No one can be afraid, it is the hour to defend our right to peace," Maduro told 4,500 military personnel at a ceremony.
On Tuesday, Guaido -- who has been recognised by more than 50 countries as the crisis-wracked country's interim president -- urged the armed forces to rise up against the embattled leader.
A small group heeded the call, but the movement failed to ignite -- the military leadership ratified their support for the government, and Maduro is standing his ground despite international pressure.
"Yes, we are in combat, keep morale high in this fight to disarm any traitor, any coup plotter," Maduro said Thursday at a televised event with the military high command, at which he was surrounded by soldiers.
"No one can be afraid -- it is the hour to defend our right to peace," he said at a ceremony attended by 4,500 military personnel, according to the government.
"We've come to ratify our loyalty ... to the supreme commander of the armed forces, who is our only president, President Nicolas Maduro," Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino said at the event.
Top court orders Lopez's arrest
Venezuela's top court has ordered the arrest of Leopoldo Lopez, an opposition activist who took refuge in the Spanish Embassy after joining an attempt to topple President Nicolas Maduro this week.The Supreme Tribunal of Justice on Thursday instructed police to detain Lopez for violating terms of his house arrest.
On Tuesday, Lopez appeared outside a military base in Caracas with opposition leader Juan Guaido, who urged the military to overthrow Maduro. When the military did not heed the call, Lopez and his family sought refuge in the Chilean ambassador's residence.
They later moved to the Spanish Embassy.
Lopez was previously detained for leading anti-government protests in 2014 and had been under house arrest for two years.
'End of Maduro government'
Former Venezuelan politician and UN ambassador Diego Arria said he believes the events of the past two days "mark the end" of Maduro's government.
Arria, a former National Congress deputy, minister and governor of Caracas who now lives in exile, told a press conference Thursday at UN headquarters in New York it is incorrect to think of the military as separate from Maduro's government.
"When you have more than half of the ministries controlled by the army, and they control the oil, the diamonds, the coal, the minerals, the gasoline and the justice and economic system, you have to understand that fundamentally the regime is military," Arria said. "So what has to collapse is the regime itself."
He said Venezuela has become "a criminal state controlled by mafia and narco-traffickers" and it "will not come out of this without the use of force."
"I hope it will be our armed forces, and we don't need to appeal to outside," said Arria, who backs opposition leader Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president.
Maduro highlights military loyalty
Maduro and key military figures made a show of unity in a television broadcast on Thursday, seeking to reject claims by the United States and the opposition that the armed forces high command was prepared to turn on him.Flanked by Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino and military operations chief Remigio Ceballos, Maduro said in a dawn national address posted first to social media that the armed forces were "united, cohesive and subordinate to their constitutional mandate".
Trump says 'repression' of Venezuelan people must end
US President Donald Trump said the "brutal repression" of the Venezuelan people must end, and it must end soon.He said the Venezuelan people are starving and have no water.
"We wish them well," he said.
Trump was speaking Thursday at the White House as part of a National Day of Prayer ceremony.
He began the event by saying he was sending prayers to the people of Venezuela in their "righteous struggle for freedom."
Four dead in two days of protests - human rights group
A Venezuelan human rights group said at least four people died in two days of protests after Guaido called for a military uprising.
The Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict said the dead from the unrest on Tuesday and Wednesday include two people who were shot in the city of La Victoria and two others hit by gunfire in Caracas, the capital.
Human rights activists said at least 230 people were injured and 205 were detained during the clashes between protesters and police.
Lavrov characterises phone call with Pompeo
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has characterised a phone call with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the crisis in Venezuela as having elements of the surreal.
Lavrov made his comments Thursday in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, a day after he spoke with Pompeo about protests against Maduro.
"Pompeo phoned, called for us to refuse to support Maduro, called for Cuba and us not to interfere in the internal affairs of Venezuela. The whole story sounds quite surreal," Lavrov said.
"If you count up all that official representatives of the American administration say about Venezuela, then you can pose questions endlessly and to all these questions the answer will be, to put it diplomatically: it's untrue," he said.
Pompeo claimed earlier that Maduro was ready to flee the South American country, but that unspecified Russians persuaded him to stay.
Moscow didn't ask Maduro not to leave Venezuela - RIA
Lavrov dismissed as untrue on Thursday assertions by US officials that Moscow had urged Maduro not to leave the country amid the continuing unrest there, RIA news agency reported.
Pompeo told broadcaster CNN on Tuesday that Maduro was prepared to leave the country that morning in the face of a call for an uprising by opposition leader Guaido, but reversed his plan after Russia intervened.
Pompeo suggested Maduro had been planning to fly to Cuba, which Maduro himself has since dismissed.
RIA on Thursday also cited Lavrov as saying that Russia and the United States had irreconcilable positions on Venezuela but that they had agreed to continue talks.
Lopez's stay as a guest - Borrell
Spain's acting foreign minister said a Venezuelan anti-government activist has not asked Spanish authorities for political asylum.
Josep Borrell, who is the foreign minister in Spain's caretaker government, said Lopez is staying as a guest at the Spanish embassy in Caracas.
Borrell said on Thursday that, under Spanish law, requests for asylum can be made only in Spain.
He told Spanish media during an official trip to Jordan that Lopez is staying at the embassy until his next steps become clearer.
Spain has in recent years become a destination for thousands of Venezuelans escaping the country's political and economic crisis.
Maduro calls for military unity
President Maduro has called for military unity in an appearance with soldiers at the air base where Guaido called for an uprising two days earlier.
Flanked by commanders, Maduro said on Thursday that the military must be prepared to combat "traitors" and the opposition had sought to provoke bloodshed in Caracas since security forces failed to respond to Guaido's bid to take power.
He spoke from the Carlota air base in the opposition's stronghold of eastern Caracas that was the epicentre of the short-lived uprising.
Guaido, backed by a small contingent of security forces, called for the military to turn against Maduro on Tuesday. But police dispersed the crowds in clashes that raged for hours.
Thousands of Venezuelans heeded the opposition's call to fill streets around the nation a day later.
The streets of the capital were calm on Thursday.
Wednesday, May 1
Opposition supporters clash with armed forces
Clashes broke out between opposition supporters and Venezuela's armed forces in the capital Caracas on Wednesday during May Day protests with opposition leader Guaido attempting to rally demonstrators against Maduro.
National Guard troops fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters attempting to block a highway close to the air base in eastern Caracas where Guaido had tried on Tuesday to spark a military uprising against Maduro.
A second day of confrontations between opposition supporters and Maduro's security services came as the United States said it was prepared to take military action, if necessary, to stem the crisis in the South American nation.
One woman reportedly died after being shot in the head during the protests.
On Tuesday as well, one person was killed and dozens injured, according to human rights monitors.
Thousands gather in rival rallies
Venezuelans braced for another day of upheaval as both the opposition and President Maduro's loyalists vowed to take to the streets, hoping to tip the balance in an agonising power struggle that appeared to grow even more desperate after a so-far unsuccessful attempt to spark a military coup.
Several hundred opposition supporters have gathered in a Caracas neighbourhood, heeding a call by Guaido for more protests a day after his calls for a military uprising fell short.
President Maduro has also called on his supporters to take to the streets, and a large group has already turned out.
Maduro has accused Guaido of trying to stage a coup and said there will be criminal prosecutions.
Russia warns against US 'interference'
Lavrov told Pompeo by phone that further "aggressive steps" in Venezuela would be fraught with the gravest consequences, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Lavrov also condemned what he called the United States' "interference" in Venezuela's internal affairs as a breach of international law, adding that dialogue between all political forces is required in the Latin American country.
US military action possibility if 'required' – Pompeo
Pompeo said during a television interview on Wednesday that the United States was not ruling out military action to back the coup attempt underway in Venezuela by Guido.
"Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Pompeo said in an interview with Fox Business Network, but added that the United States would prefer a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela.
Pompeo was repeating a statement he made to Fox News on Tuesday calling for President Maduro to leave the country.
"President [Donald Trump] has been consistent and unambiguous about that, that the option to use military force is available if that is what is ultimately called for. We hope it's not. We hope there can be a peaceful resolution and that Maduro will leave without violence."
Tuesday, April 30
Maduro announces 'criminal prosecutions'
Maduro warned Tuesday that those responsible for a military uprising against him would face "criminal prosecutions."
"This will not go unpunished,” Maduro said in an address broadcast on television and the radio.
"I have spoken to the attorney general. I have chosen three prosecutors... who will interrogate all people involved... and they will launch criminal prosecutions for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace."
He also denied alleged plans to flee the country.
Call for fresh protests
Guaido called for a fresh round of protests on Wednesday against Maduro, after clashes broke out between security forces and anti-government demonstrators.
“I am calling on the armed forces to continue their march in ‘Operation Freedom.’ Tomorrow, May 1, we will continue... across all of Venezuela, we will be on the streets,” Guaido said in a video message released on social media.
Pompeo says Maduro was ready to leave
Pompeo said on Tuesday that Maduro was ready to leave the country before Russia convinced him to stay.
"It’s been a long time since anyone has seen Maduro. He had an airplane on the tarmac. He was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it, and the Russians indicated he should stay," Pompeo said in an interview with CNN.
"We’ve made clear that all along, Maduro has been surrounded by Cubans and has been supported by Russians there in Venezuela," he added.
TRT World spoke to Miguel Tinker Salas, a professor at California’s Pomona College, who says there is no evidence to back Pompeo’s claim.
No comments