Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido accused the government of trying to kill him while he was taking part in an anti-government rally Saturday in Lara state.
“MADURO IS A COWARD”
“The cowardly dictatorship tried to assassinate me,” Guaido said in a video posted on social media. “Nicolas Maduro is a coward who cannot go out on the streets and so he sends armed groups,” he added, referring to Venezuela’s president.
A photo posted on Twitter shows a masked man pointing a gun toward a group of opposition activists, including Guaido, who claimed his vehicle was hit by more than nine bullets. “They shot, they fired guns near us, they aimed at me, but that’s not going to make us back down,” said Guaido.
“INTERNATIONAL ALERT”
His office published an “international alert” calling on the governments of other countries to “decisively and fearlessly increase the measures and pressure exerted against the tyranny headed by Nicolas Maduro.”
The events were condemned by the United States and Luis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS).
The US government rejects the “acts of desperation and violence” against the demonstration led by Guaido, the US Foreign Office for the Venezuelan embassy in Caracas said in a post on its official Twitter account. It said the attack was “another reminder of how the world must defend Venezuela” and stressed that “democracy cannot be intimidated.”