Daily Times

With exiled opposition figure Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia vowing to return home to claim the presidency he insists he won in elections last July, his supporters have been called to turn out in millions ahead of Friday’s investiture ceremony.

But backers of Maduro’s ruling “Chavista” movement have vowed to take to the streets as well, and thousands of heavily-armed police and soldiers have been deployed in Caracas in advance.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello has said anti-Maduro protesters, whom he described as “fascists” and “terrorists,” “will regret” turning out, vowing that “we will go on the counter-attack.” A brutal crackdown on the protests that met Maduro’s election victory claim five months ago saw 28 people killed, some 200 injured and more than 2,400 arrested.

“What will happen is unpredictable,” Venezuelan Mailin Rodriguez told AFP on the streets of Caracas Tuesday. “I don’t know if what will happen will be good or bad.”

Amid the rising tension, Gonzalez Urrutia was winding down an international tour that has taken him to Argentina, Uruguay and the United States — where he received strong support Monday from President Joe Biden.

He is headed next to Panama, where he will meet former Latin American presidents and a dozen current foreign ministers Wednesday as part of a campaign to drum up pressure on Maduro to step aside.

“Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia’s strategy is to give impetus to the opposition cause and assume a leading role in trying to increase international pressure,” Mariano de Alba, a Venezuelan expert in international relations, told AFP.

As for his vow to take power on Friday? “Unlikely,” said de Alba. Authorities in Caracas have vowed to arrest Gonzalez Urrutia, who was granted exile in Spain last September, if he returns to the country.

Several of the ex-presidents he is due to meet Wednesday have announced they intend to fly with Gonzalez Urrutia to Caracas to assume office. They did not explain how such a trip would unfold. “That aircraft, those crew members, the crew and passengers must be treated as a foreign force trying to invade,” Parliamentary speaker Jorge Rodriguez warned this week.