Marco Rubio, who represents Florida, poked fun at Nicolas Maduro on Twitter by joking Godzilla had been responsible for the massive powercut. On Thursday Venezuela was plunged into darkness following the power outage earlier in the day. Maduro, who is currently embroiled in a bitter spat with opposition leader Juan Guaido, claimed the US had been responsible for the incident.

Guaido hits out at EU over sanctions and says Europe 'MUST REACT'

But taking to the social media platform Mr Rubio lampooned the President.

He wrote: “A few weeks ago the Maduro regime blamed iguanas for causing a large electric grid blackout.

“We have now received the first video of what caused tonight’s unprecedented nationwide blackout in Venezuela.”

The tweet then shows an image of the monster spitting fire on a city.

READ MORE: Venezuela crisis: US journalist RELEASED after he was detained</s>CARACAS, Venezuela — The Venezuelan opposition and government loyalists held rival demonstrations in Caracas on Saturday, as both sides prepared for what some fear could be a protracted power struggle.

The rallies unfolded as power and communications failures continued to hit Venezuela, intensifying the hardship of a country paralyzed by economic and political crisis. The blackouts heightened tension between the bitterly divided factions, which accused each other of being responsible for the collapse of the power grid.

"Hard times are ahead," said opposition leader Juan Guaido, who addressed crowds with a loudspeaker after security forces earlier dismantled a speakers' stage that the opposition had erected. He said he planned to tour Venezuela to seek support and lay the groundwork for a massive rally in Caracas.

The 35-year-old leader of the National Assembly said he anticipated more government efforts to sideline and intimidate the opposition. However, President Nicolas Maduro's government has not moved directly against Guaido since he returned to Venezuela from a Latin American tour Monday.

Guaido earlier speculated that Maduro was effectively ignoring him in an attempt to sap the energy of the opposition, whose hopes of ousting the government have so far been stymied.

But on Saturday, Maduro stepped up verbal attacks on Guaido, calling him "a clown and puppet" in a speech to supporters outside Miraflores, the presidential palace. He scoffed at Guaido's claim in late January to be interim president of Venezuela, a declaration supported by the United States and about 50 other countries.

"Not a president, not anything," said Maduro, who accused Guaido and his U.S. allies of sabotaging Venezuela's Guri Dam, one of the world's largest hydroelectric stations and the cornerstone of Venezuela's electrical grid.

He said authorities had restored 70 percent of power in Venezuela since what he called an "international cyberattack" late Thursday, but progress was lost Saturday when "infiltrators" allegedly struck again.

The Venezuelan opposition and U.S. officials say Maduro's attempts to pin blame on his political adversaries is absurd, and that government corruption and mismanagement over many years caused the blackout and wider deterioration of the economy.

In another blow to Venezuela's infrastructure, an explosion occurred at a power station in the country's Bolivar state on Saturday, according to local media. Video posted on social media showed fire and smoke billowing from the site. Venezuelan authorities have not commented.

Netblocks, a nongovernment group based in Europe that monitors internet censorship, said on Saturday that the second failure had knocked out almost all of Venezuela's telecommunications infrastructure.

Earlier, it referred to online connectivity data indicating that the initial blackout that began Thursday and eased about 24 hours later was the largest on recent record in Latin America.

Managers of the Caracas subway said they were waiting for the electricity supply to stabilize before resuming service, and the power grid problems quickly became only another issue that galvanized Venezuelans to take to the streets.

Opposition protesters who converged on Avenida Victoria in Caracas vented anger over the country's problems, including hyperinflation and shortages of basic necessities. They pushed against the shields of riot police who avoided a clash by withdrawing from the area.

Some protesters elsewhere in the city said police tried to block them from reaching the rally, creating a sense of confusion as power and communications failures plagued the country.

"This is chaos," said Jorge Jaimes, a physician frustrated with the decline of a country that was once the wealthiest in Latin America.

At the pro-government rally, people danced and waved flags on what organizers labeled a "day of anti-imperialism" in a show of defiance toward the United States, which has imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela in an attempt to oust Maduro. Many showed up wearing red caps and shirts in support of the self-proclaimed "socialist revolution" of leader Hugo Chavez, who died six years ago and was succeeded by his protege, Maduro.</s>Nearly all of Venezuela’s 23 states were plunged into darkness on Thursday afternoon after the most severe power cut in the country’s recent history.

The blackout continued all through Friday and into Saturday, as thousands of protesters turned out to support their respective leaders, who have been locked in a power struggle for the last two months since Juan Guaidó, who leads the opposition-controlled National Assembly, declared himself interim president on January 23rd.

Guaidó has been recognised as interim president by more than 50 countries, including the United States and most of Europe.

Russia, China, Turkey, Mexico, Bolivia and a number of other countries have reaffirmed their support for Maduro as Venezuela’s only legitimate president.

The blackout promptly became a point of dispute between President Maduro and the US-backed opposition trying to oust him.

Friday evening, Venezuela’s defence minister accused the US of masterminding the power cut.

In a televised address from the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Vladimir Padrino López claimed the US was behind a “criminal aggression” designed to “disrupt and attack” Maduro’s administration.

Maduro has also accused the opposition of sabotage while his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, condemned what she called an "imperial electrical war".

In response, Guaidó urged Venezuelans to demonstrate on Saturday "against the usurping, corrupt and incompetent regime that has put our country in the dark".

The self-declared interim president and the opposition blame the massive power cut on poor maintenance, under-investment and corruption.

Washington denies having a role in the electricity system collapse.

The nationwide power outage has reportedly been caused by problems at the Guri hydroelectric plant in the southern Bolivar state - one of the largest such facilities in Latin America.

The Guri hydroelectric plant supplies much of the country’s electricity.

On Friday, offices and school were closed to help efforts to restore electricity. Hospitals have also been affected as some medical facilities do not have emergency power generators.

Dr. Julio Castro, one of the leaders of the non-profit Doctors for Health, reported via a tweet that about half of 23 hospitals surveyed were grappling with failing generators.

In Caracas's University Hospital, 25-year-old patient Marielsi Aray died after her respirator stopped working.

Video footage posted on social media showed doctors trying to keep children breathing at

the capital’s Supreme Commander Hugo Chávez paediatric hospital after it lost power.

At a maternity ward in the capital Caracas an Associated Press reporter saw nurses use candles to monitor the vital signs of their premature babies as power failed.

On Saturday morning power supplies in Caracas appeared to be partially restored.

Traffic lights in some areas were back in action but the city's metro remained closed.

According to El Nacional newspaper, fourteen of Venezuela's 23 states are still affected by the outages.

The blackout has sparked fears of the human cost of the power cuts and that it could further destabilize the beleaguered country, sending it into a new turbulent period.</s>CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan opposition protesters on Saturday converged on a main avenue in Caracas and other parts of the country, venting their anger over a nationwide blackout, shortages of basic necessities and the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

At the same time, supporters of Maduro held a rival demonstration in a separate district of the Venezuelan capital that drew a mass of people protesting against the U.S. and its "brutal aggression" against the South American country.

Both rallies illustrated the ever-growing gulf between two factions now struggling for control of a nation paralyzed by economic and political turmoil.

Meanwhile, tensions were only compounded further by a new power shutdown that came just hours after an earlier blackout in the country appeared to be easing.

"This is chaos," said Jorge Jaimes, a physician who joined opposition protesters on Avenida Victoria in Caracas. "We are at the end of this road."

Opposition demonstrators earlier in the morning pushed against the shields of riot police, who withdrew from the area but maintained a large presence. Some protesters elsewhere in the city said lines of police were blocking them from reaching the rally organized by opposition leader Juan Guaidó, creating a sense of confusion as power and communications outages plagued the country.

Netblocks, a non-government group based in Europe that monitors internet censorship, said Saturday a second outage had knocked out almost all of Venezuela's telecommunications infrastructure.

Earlier, it referred to online connectivity data indicating that the initial outage that began Thursday and eased about 24 hours later was the largest on recent record in Latin America.

Managers of the Caracas subway said they were still waiting for the electricity supply to stabilize before resuming service, but the power grid problems quickly became another issue that galvanized Venezuelans to take to the streets.

As the opposition-led rally got underway, police units and members of the National Guard were deployed at several intersections, wearing helmets and carrying shields and other anti-riot gear. Several columns of security forces moved on motorcycles.

Opposition activists said police had dismantled a speakers' stage that had been erected in the street ahead of the demonstration on Saturday, while Guaidó tweeted that authorities would fail in any attempt to scare protesters.

"Today we'll show them in the streets," he said.

Meanwhile, demonstrators at the pro-Maduro rally danced and waved flags on what organizers labeled a "day of anti-imperialism" in a show of defiance toward the United States, which has imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela in an attempt to oust the president. Many showed up wearing red caps and shirts in support of the self-proclaimed "socialist revolution" of leader Hugo Chavez, who died six years ago and was succeeded by his protege, Maduro.

Maduro, who maintains that Guaidó is part of a U.S.-backed plot to oust him, tweeted Saturday that "each act of imperialist aggression will meet an overwhelming response."

In the last two days, Venezuelan government officials have blamed the United States for the nationwide blackout and said that Guaidó collaborated in the alleged sabotage.

Guaidó and U.S. officials scoff at the notion, attributing the blackout to alleged corruption and mismanagement under Maduro's government.

The United States and about 50 other countries support Guaidó, 35, who has been unable to wrest power from Maduro.

Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela's National Assembly, declared himself interim president of the country in late January.</s>CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan opposition protesters on Saturday converged on a main avenue in Caracas and other parts of the country, venting their anger over a nationwide blackout, shortages of basic necessities and the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

At the same time, supporters of Maduro held a rival demonstration in a separate district of the Venezuelan capital that drew a mass of people protesting against the U.S. and its "brutal aggression" against the South American country.

Both rallies illustrated the ever-growing gulf between two factions now struggling for control of a nation paralyzed by economic and political turmoil.

Meanwhile, tensions were only compounded further by a new power shutdown that came just hours after an earlier blackout in the country appeared to be easing.

"This is chaos," said Jorge Jaimes, a physician who joined opposition protesters on Avenida Victoria in Caracas. "We are at the end of this road."

Opposition demonstrators earlier in the morning pushed against the shields of riot police, who withdrew from the area but maintained a large presence. Some protesters elsewhere in the city said lines of police were blocking them from reaching the rally organized by opposition leader Juan Guaidó, creating a sense of confusion as power and communications outages plagued the country.

Netblocks, a non-government group based in Europe that monitors internet censorship, said Saturday a second outage had knocked out almost all of Venezuela's telecommunications infrastructure.

Earlier, it referred to online connectivity data indicating that the initial outage that began Thursday and eased about 24 hours later was the largest on recent record in Latin America.

Managers of the Caracas subway said they were still waiting for the electricity supply to stabilize before resuming service, but the power grid problems quickly became another issue that galvanized Venezuelans to take to the streets.

As the opposition-led rally got underway, police units and members of the National Guard were deployed at several intersections, wearing helmets and carrying shields and other anti-riot gear. Several columns of security forces moved on motorcycles.

Opposition activists said police had dismantled a speakers' stage that had been erected in the street ahead of the demonstration on Saturday, while Guaidó tweeted that authorities would fail in any attempt to scare protesters.

"Today we'll show them in the streets," he said.

Meanwhile, demonstrators at the pro-Maduro rally danced and waved flags on what organizers labeled a "day of anti-imperialism" in a show of defiance toward the United States, which has imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela in an attempt to oust the president. Many showed up wearing red caps and shirts in support of the self-proclaimed "socialist revolution" of leader Hugo Chavez, who died six years ago and was succeeded by his protege, Maduro.

Maduro, who maintains that Guaidó is part of a U.S.-backed plot to oust him, tweeted Saturday that "each act of imperialist aggression will meet an overwhelming response."

In the last two days, Venezuelan government officials have blamed the United States for the nationwide blackout and said that Guaidó collaborated in the alleged sabotage.

Guaidó and U.S. officials scoff at the notion, attributing the blackout to alleged corruption and mismanagement under Maduro's government.

The United States and about 50 other countries support Guaidó, 35, who has been unable to wrest power from Maduro.

Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela's National Assembly, declared himself interim president of the country in late January.</s>CARACAS (Reuters) - Furious Venezuelans lined up to buy water and fuel on Sunday as the country entered a fourth day of a nationwide blackout that has left already-scarce food rotting in shops, homes suffering for lack of water and cell phones without reception.

Authorities have managed to provide only patchy access to power since the outage began on Thursday in what President Nicolas Maduro called an act of U.S.-backed sabotage, but critics insist it is the result of incompetence and corruption.

With no coherent official explanation of the problem or likely time frame for solving it, Venezuelans, who have for years found ways to laugh about the privations of the economic crisis, are now fretting that the blackout could extend indefinitely.

The country’s worst-ever power outage comes as Maduro faces a hyperinflationary economic collapse and an unprecedented political crisis. Opposition leader Juan Guaido in January invoked the constitution to assume the presidency after declaring Maduro’s 2018 re-election a fraud.

Angry residents of the Caracas neighborhood of Chacao on Sunday set up barricades along a main avenue and on side streets to protest the continued outage.

“The food we had in our refrigerators has spoiled, businesses are closed, there’s no communication, not even by cell phone,” Ana Cerrato, 49, a merchant, standing in front of a pile of razor wire and debris.

“No country can bear 50 hours without electricity. We need help! We are in a humanitarian crisis!”

Lines extended for blocks at fuel stations as drivers queued up for gasoline and busses waited fill up with diesel. Families stood under the sun to buy potable water, which is unavailable for most residents whose homes do not have power.

State oil company PDVSA said on Sunday that fuel supplies were guaranteed, but many service stations remained shuttered for lack of power.

Merchants unable to maintain refrigerators working began giving away cheese, vegetables and meat to clients.

“I’m going to give this to street kids that I see,” said Jenny Paredes, owner of a cafe, in reference to milk that she could not keep any longer.

A small supermarket in a working class area of western Caracas was looted on Saturday night after protesters barricaded an avenue and clashed with police, according to neighbors and the shop’s owner Manuel Caldeira.

“They took food, they broke the display windows, they stole scales and point of sale terminals,” said Caldeira, 58, standing on the shop floor littered with glass. “We weren’t here (when it happened), we got here and found all of this destroyed.”

The air in the shop still reeked of tear gas from the night before, when police had fired canisters to disperse the looters. Two employees were struggling to open protective steel doors that were damaged by the thieves.

“The national electrical system has been subject to multiple cyber attacks,” Maduro wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “However, we are making huge efforts to restore stable and definitive supply in the coming hours.”

Guaido in a Sunday press conference criticized severely the government for failing to explain what was going on.

“The regime at this hour, days after a blackout without precedent, has no diagnosis,” he said.

Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro’s 2018 re-election was fraudulent. He has been recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate leader by the United States and most Western countries, but Maduro retains control of the armed forces and state functions.

Despite pressure from frequent opposition marches and U.S. sanctions on the country’s vital oil sector, Maduro is not open to negotiations on ending the political impasse and seems intent on trying to stay put, said Elliott Abrams, the Trump administration’s envoy for Venezuela.

Speaking on U.S. broadcast network ABC’s “This Week,” U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Sunday he thought momentum is on Guaido’s side.

“There are countless conversations going on between members of the National Assembly and members of the military in Venezuela; talking about what might come, how they might move to support the opposition,” Bolton said.

At hospitals, the lack of power combined with the absence or poor performance of backup generators led to the death of 17 patients across the country, non-governmental organization Doctors for Health said on Saturday. Reuters was unable to independently verify the figure, and the government’s Information Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Power returned briefly to parts of Caracas and other cities on Friday, but went out again around midday on Saturday.

“One can infer from the delays and the results of the failure that it was a problem in the lines that leave Guri, rather than in the plant itself,” said Miguel Lara, a former president of the state-run entity responsible for the electricity system, referring to the Guri hydroelectric power plant, one of the world’s biggest, that supplies most of Venezuela’s electricity.</s>CARACAS, Venezuela — The Venezuelan opposition and government loyalists held rival demonstrations in Caracas on Saturday, as both sides prepared for what some fear could be a protracted power struggle.

The rallies unfolded as power and communications failures continued to hit Venezuela, intensifying the hardship of a country paralyzed by economic and political crisis. The blackouts heightened tension between the bitterly divided factions, which accused each other of being responsible for the collapse of the power grid.

“Hard times are ahead,” said opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who addressed crowds with a loudspeaker after security forces earlier dismantled a speakers’ stage that the opposition had erected. He said he planned to tour Venezuela to seek support and lay the groundwork for a massive rally in Caracas.

The 35-year-old leader of the National Assembly said he anticipated more government efforts to sideline and intimidate the opposition. However, President Nicolás Maduro’s government has not moved directly against Guaidó since he returned to Venezuela from a Latin American tour Monday.

Guaidó earlier speculated that Maduro was effectively ignoring him in an attempt to sap the energy of the opposition, whose hopes of ousting the government have so far been stymied.

But on Saturday, Maduro stepped up verbal attacks on Guaidó, calling him “a clown and puppet” in a speech to supporters outside Miraflores, the presidential palace. He scoffed at Guaidó’s claim in late January to be interim president of Venezuela, a declaration supported by the United States and about 50 other countries.

“Not a president, not anything,” said Maduro, who accused Guaidó and his U.S. allies of sabotaging Venezuela’s Guri Dam, one of the world’s largest hydroelectric stations and the cornerstone of Venezuela’s electrical grid.

He said authorities had restored 70 percent of power in Venezuela since what he called an “international cyberattack” late Thursday, but progress was lost on Saturday when “infiltrators” allegedly struck again.

The Venezuelan opposition and U.S. officials say Maduro’s attempts to pin blame on his political adversaries is absurd, and that government corruption and mismanagement over many years caused the blackout and wider deterioration of the economy.

In another blow to Venezuela’s infrastructure, an explosion occurred at a power station in the country’s Bolivar state on Saturday, according to local media. Video posted on social media showed fire and smoke billowing from the site. Venezuelan authorities have not commented.

Christopher Torchia is an Associated Press writer.</s>Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza lashed out at politicians close to US President Donald Trump for “celebrating” in the wake of electricity supply issues facing the South American country.

“While the Venezuelan society has calmly accepted the circumstances that resulted from the sabotage in the country’s electric power industry, and the employees of Corpoelec [national electricity supplier] are restlessly working, those close to Donald Trump have been celebrating, enjoying the reckless distortion [of facts] despite what Venezuelans are going through,” Arreaza wrote on Twitter in response to the recent comments by US politicians.

In his tweet on Friday, Arreaza referred to tweets by US State Secretary Mike Pompeo who denied claims that Washington had a role in the electricity system collapse.

Moreover, on Thursday, US Senator Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter that several weeks ago, the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blamed iguanas for causing damage to the electric power grid. Rubio also wrote that he had a video of what caused the ongoing blackout in Venezuela, publishing an image of Godzilla shooting fire breath. Rubio’s tweet referred to the statement by Venezuelan Electricity Minister Luis Motta Dominguez, who said back in October that power outages in Venezuela had been caused by animals, including iguanas, getting into electric power stations.

Jorge Rodriguez, Venezuela’s minister of Communication and Information, suggested on Friday, as aired by the state-run VTV broadcaster, that both Rubio and Pompeo had known about the blackout before it had hit Venezuela because their reaction to the situation in the South American country had been very prompt.

“They carried out a cyberattack on the automatic control system. Everything shows that it is a multiformat and violent attack against whole Venezuela… In the coming days, a delegation headed by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet will visit Venezuela in the coming days. We will show her the proof about these criminals. We will submit a complaint to her in order the world to respect human rights in Venezuela,” Rodriguez pointed out.

On Wednesday, Bachelet said the UN mission will visit Venezuela the next week to access the human rights situation in the country.

Later, a Sputnik correspondent reported that power supply is gradually being restored in some areas of the Venezuelan capital of Caracas in the wake of a major blackout that hit the country.

As of 09:00 p.m. on Friday [01:00 GMT on Saturday], electricity returned to Caracas’ central Altagracia district, southeastern Colinas De Santa Monica area, northern La Florida district and western Caricuao and Catia areas. However, temporary power supply failures can be still experienced in these areas.

The blackout swept Venezuela on Thursday as Corpoelec reported about a “sabotage” at the major Guri hydroelectric power plant. Media subsequently reported about power outages in 21 out or 23 Venezuela’s states. Maduro blamed the United States for waging an electric energy war against Venezuela.
• Venezuela Crisis: Guaido Calls for Further Protests to Avoid Arrest upon Return</s>Caracas - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Saturday called on citizens nationwide to travel to the capital Caracas for a protest against socialist President Nicolas Maduro, as the country's worst blackout in decades dragged on for a third day. Addressing supporters in southwestern Caracas, Guaido - the leader of the opposition-run congress who invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January - said Maduro's government "has no way to solve the electricity crisis that they themselves created."

"All of Venezuela, to Caracas!" Guaido yelled while standing atop a bridge, without saying when the planned protest would be held. "The days ahead will be difficult, thanks to the regime."

Activists had scuffled with police and troops ahead of the rally, meant to pressure Maduro amid the blackout, which the governing Socialist Party called an act of US-sponsored sabotage but opposition critics derided as the result of two decades of mismanagement and corruption.

Dozens of demonstrators attempted to walk along an avenue in Caracas but were moved onto the sidewalk by police in riot gear, leading them to shout at the officers and push on their riot shields. One woman was sprayed with pepper spray, according to a local broadcaster.

The power flickered on and off in parts of Caracas on Saturday morning, including the presidential palace of Miraflores, according to Reuters witnesses. Six of the country's 23 states still lacked power as of Saturday afternoon, Socialist Party Vice President Diosdado Cabello said on state television.

"We're all upset that we've got no power, no phone service, no water and they want to block us," said Rossmary Nascimiento, 45, a nutritionist at the Caracas rally. "I want a normal country."

At a competing march organized by the Socialist Party to protest what it calls U.S. imperialism, Maduro blamed the outages on "electromagnetic and cyber attacks directed from abroad by the empire."

"The right-wing, together with the empire, has stabbed the electricity system, and we are trying to cure it soon," he said.

Several hundred people gathered at the rally in central Caracas for a march to denounce the crippling U.S. oil sanctions aimed at cutting off the Maduro government's funding sources.

"We're here, we're mobilised, because we're not going to let the gringos take over," said Elbadina Gomez, 76, who works for an activist group linked to the Socialist Party.

Julio Castro, a doctor and member of a nongovernmental organization called Doctors For Health, tweeted that a total of 17 people had died during the blackout, including nine deaths in emergency rooms.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the deaths or whether they could have resulted from the blackout. The Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Clinics in the sweltering western state of Zulia, which suffers chronic regional blackouts, had scaled back operations after nearly 72 hours without power.

"We're not offering services and we don't have any patients staying here because the generator is not working," said Chiquinquira Caldera, head of administration at the San Lucas clinic in the city of Maracaibo, as she played a game of Chinese checkers with doctors who were waiting for power to return.

Venezuela, already suffering from hyperinflation and shortages of basic goods, has been mired in a major political crisis since Guaido assumed the interim presidency in January, calling Maduro a usurper following the 2018 election, which Maduro won but was widely considered fraudulent.

Maduro says Guaido is a puppet of Washington and dismisses his claim to the presidency as an effort by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to control Venezuela's oil wealth.

Former mayor and exiled opposition activist Antonio Ledezma on Saturday called on Guaido to seek United Nations intervention in Venezuela by invoking a principle known as "responsibility to protect."

The U.N. doctrine sometimes referred to as R2P was created to prevent mass killings such as those of Rwanda and Bosnia and places the onus on the international community to protect populations from crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

"President @jguaido, (you should) formally request Humanitarian Intervention, applying the concept of R2P, to stop extermination, genocide and destruction of what's left of our country," Ledezma wrote via Twitter.

At the opposition rally, Guaido said he would not invoke an article of the Venezuelan constitution allowing the congress to authorise foreign military operations within Venezuela "until we have to."

"Article 187 when the time comes," Guaido said. "We need to be in the streets, mobilized. It depends on us, not on anybody else."

Trump has said that a "military option" is on the table with regard to Venezuela, but Latin American neighbours have emphatically opposed a U.S. intervention as a way of addressing the situation.</s>Venezuelans woke up to a fourth day of an unprecedented nationwide blackout on Sunday, leaving residents concerned about the impacts of the lack of electricity on the South American country’s health, communications and transport systems.
Whilst a nationwide power blackout continues, Acting President Juan Guaidó calls for protests in the capital of Venezuela.