Venezuelans return to the streets to protest against Nicolás Maduro on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Chavista revolution

Venezuelan opponents, led by the self-proclaimed interim president, Juan Guaidó, will challenge this Saturday in the streets of the dictator Nicolás Maduro to demand that he leave power, right in the symbolic celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Chavez government.

At 10 am, local officials and opponents were summoned in moments of high tension, with an unknown leader of the international community and an opponent backed by the United States, Latin America and the European powers.

The opposition march will send "a message to the European Union (EU"to thank all the countries that will soon recognize us," said the head of parliament, who was sworn in on 23 January, changing the political landscape of the long Venezuelan crisis.

The opposition, which will be held in front of the European Union headquarters east of Caracas, will show its support for the ultimatum given to Maduro (France, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, Portugal and the Netherlands). accept "free elections" or else they will recognize Guaidó as president in charge.

Guaidó, 35, was self-sufficient after Congress declared Maduro "usurper" after taking Jan. 10 a second term that he considers illegitimate – as well as in the international community – as a result "fraudulent" elections.

But Maduro, 21 years older than his opponent, claims to have China and Russia and be a victim of a coup in which Washington uses Guaidó as a "puppet".

"Street and more street to defend the homeland and the revolution"Maduro has launched its supporters, who will be focused on Plaza Bolívar, in the heart of Caracas, 10 km from the EU headquarters, but each march raises fear of violence.

According to the United Nations, the riots killed 40 people and 850 arrests last week. In 2014 and 2017, two waves of protests killed at least 200 people.

The 20th anniversary comes as the country is facing the worst crisis in its modern history, with hyperinflation that the IMF expects 10,000,000% this year and the oil company PDVSA, which finances 96% of the budget, is collapsed.

Failing that and with production in free fall, the state is strangled by US sanctions.

Fleeing the crisis, due to a shortage of food and medicine, some 2.3 million Venezuelans (7% of the population) have emigrated since 2015, the largest exodus of Latin America from these countries. recent decades, according to the UN.

Lenis Carrillo, 43, says "feel another air" with Guaidó. "We must continue until the end of the dictatorship because people are starving."

Maduro, backed by the armed forces, says that since the socialist leader Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999, who died of cancer in 2013, the revolution has been keeping the poor in check through social programs.

"The government has given me the opportunity to have a home, I have never liked the right because they do not want people to walk, we always trust the revolution ", said Rodolfo Pariata, 47, to AFP.

Guaidó aims to break the loyalty of the military – Maduro's support – with an amnesty if they cooperate with a "transitional government".

In his "Country Plan", Guaidó proposes the arrival of humanitarian aid, the improvement of public services (deteriorated), the control of inflation, a new monetary policy and the renegotiation of the external debt of 150,000 millions of dollars.

For its part, Maduro attributes the crisis to the right and the sanctions imposed by the United States, rejects humanitarian aid as the door to military intervention and promises "prosperity", with the same economic model of control of l & # 39; State.

The international community and in particular the United States tipped the scales in this power struggle that began in late 2015 when the opposition took control of Parliament, organizing the first major electoral defeat of Chavez.