CARACAS/MARACAIBO: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday ordered an expansion of civilian militia by nearly one million members as opposition leader Juan Guaido toured western Zulia state, which has been hard hit by electricity blackouts.
Guaido, the leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly who in January invoked Venezuela’s constitution to assume an interim presidency, has called on the military to abandon Maduro amid a hyperinflationary economic collapse made worse by several nationwide blackouts in the past month.
Guaido has been recognized as Venezuela’s rightful leader by the United States and most Western countries, who agree with his argument that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate.
The civilian militia, created in 2008 by the late former president and Maduro mentor Hugo Chavez, reports directly to the presidency and is intended to complement the armed forces.
Maduro, who calls Guaido a US puppet, said he aimed to raise the number of militia members to three million by year-end from what he said was more than 2 million currently. Maduro has encouraged them to become involved in agricultural production.
Shortages of food and medicine have prompted more than three million Venezuelans to emigrate in recent years.
“With your rifles on your shoulders, be ready to defend the fatherland and dig the furrow to plant the seeds to produce food for the community, for the people,” Maduro, a socialist, told thousands of militia members gathered in the capital Caracas, wearing khaki camouflaged uniforms.
So far, the military top brass has remained loyal to Maduro despite Guaido’s offer of amnesty to military members who switch sides. Hundreds of soldiers have sought asylum in neighboring Colombia.
While electricity has largely been restored in Caracas, Maduro’s administration is rationing power to the rest of Venezuela.
Guaido is traveling in the interior to drum up support. In Zulia state, the site of the OPEC member’s first oil well and home to Venezuela’s second-largest city, Maracaibo, he said: “We are here to check on the situation, your suffering. But Zulia will rise up.”
Separately on Saturday, two employees of Venezuela’s central bank who were arrested after meeting with Guaido earlier this week were freed, rights group Penal Forum said.
Rights groups say Venezuelan authorities have arrested over 1,000 people after anti-government demonstrations this year. Guaido’s chief of staff was arrested last month.
Venezuela’s Maduro orders militia expansion as Guaido tours blackout-ravaged state
Venezuela’s Maduro orders militia expansion as Guaido tours blackout-ravaged state
- So far, the military top brass has remained loyal to Maduro despite Guaido’s offer of amnesty to military members who switch sides. Hundreds of soldiers have sought asylum in neighboring Colombia
South Korea calls for resuming dialogue with North
- President Lee Jae Myung has sought to mend ties with the nuclear-armed North since taking office in June
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul
SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called on Sunday for dialogue with North Korea to resume, after Pyongyang last week shunned the prospect of diplomacy with its neighbor.
Since taking office in June, a dovish Lee has sought to mend ties with the nuclear-armed North, which reaffirmed its anti-Seoul approach during a party meeting last week.
“As my administration has repeatedly made clear, we respect the North’s system and will neither engage in any type of hostile acts, nor pursue any form of unification by absorption,” Lee said in a speech marking the anniversary of a historical campaign against Japan’s colonial rule.
“We will also continue our efforts to resume dialogue with the North,” he said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, describing its overtures as “clumsy, deceptive farce and a poor work.”
Speaking at the party congress in Pyongyang, Kim said North Korea has “absolutely no business dealing with South Korea, its most hostile entity, and will permanently exclude South Korea from the category of compatriots.”
But he also said the North could “get along well” with the United States if Washington acknowledges its nuclear status.
Speculation has mounted over whether US President Donald Trump will seek a meeting with Kim during planned travels to China.
Last year, Trump said he was “100 percent” open to a meeting.
Previous Trump-Kim summits during the US president’s first term fell apart after the pair failed to agree over sanctions relief — and what nuclear concessions North Korea might make in return.
