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Venezuelan opposition leader calls for protest actions on March 12

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said people should take to the streets and demand that their rights be respected
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido EPA-EFE/Raul Martinez
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido
© EPA-EFE/Raul Martinez

CARACAS, March 11. /TASS/. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on his supporters to attend new protest rallies on Tuesday, March 12.

"We set the mobilization for tomorrow. Venezuelans will take to the streets, demanding that our rights be respected," Guaido said during his speech at the National Assembly (parliament) broadcast on Periscope.

According to the opposition leader, the protests will start at 3pm (10pm Moscow time). "We have to maintain unity and stability, Venezuela will put an end to the usurpation of power very soon," Guaido said.

Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas on January 23. On the same day, the United States recognized him as an interim president, and the countries of the Lima Group (excluding Mexico) and the Organization of American States followed suit. Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro blasted the move as an attempted coup and announced severing diplomatic ties with the United States.

Most European Union member states recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president. Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.