Venezuela: Maduro thanks army for loyalty and condemns 'traitors'

(Patria) – Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro held a military march early this morning in Caracas to 'reaffirm the loyalty of the armed forces', agencies report.

He thanked the Venezuelan army for 'resisting an imperialist conspiracy' aimed at overthrowing him and, as he put it, finding justification for foreign military intervention.

'How many lives would have been lost in a civil war due to the madness of the putschists and traitors, how much physical destruction and how many years of war would we have faced?' Maduro asked the assembled soldiers, shouting the slogan 'no surrender'.

We remind you that in the early morning hours of Tuesday, opposition leader Juan Guaidó appeared in front of the main air force base in Caracas, not far from the presidential palace, encouraging state armed forces to turn against Maduro.

His initiative did not bear fruit, which was confirmed by this morning's march organized by Maduro.

At least four people were killed, more than 230 were injured, and 205 people were detained during demonstrations and clashes between protesters and security forces this week, human rights agencies reported.

US President Donald Trump supports opposition leader Guaidó, stating that 'Washington would do everything to oust Maduro', writes the British newspaper The Guardian.

'That place is very bad and dangerous... something will have to be done,' Trump told Fox News.

Elliot Abrams, the US envoy for Venezuela, stated that the US did not participate in the negotiations between representatives of the opposition and the ruling regime, but that an agreement on the terms of the political transition was ready for signing.

'There is a document... the US was not involved in the negotiations, but I was told that there is a longer document with 15 points – it mentions guarantees for the army, a dignified exit for Maduro, Guaidó as interim president, the continuation of the supreme court and high command, free elections within 12 months,' Abrams told the Venezuelan TV channel VPITV, calling the document 'a good plan for the recovery of stable democracy in Venezuela'.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton explained that this plan would 'the Venezuelan Supreme Court would declare Maduro's constituent assembly invalid, which would confirm the legitimacy of the National Assembly led by Juan Guaidó'.

Bolton also revealed that US President Donald Trump held a meeting with his national security and foreign policy advisors on the topic of Venezuela. The Washington Post reports that Bolton and his team clashed with US military leaders over their alleged resistance to finding military options for Venezuela, with Bolton advocating for a more aggressive approach.

'We have to choose... and I simply do not believe that President Trump is ready to watch foreign governments take control of Venezuela, which possesses the largest oil reserves in the world,' John Bolton, US National Security Advisor, explained to the media, writes The Guardian.