Mother of all marches in Venezuela; Maduro reacts by pledging 500.000 civilian militias

As Venezuela’s center-right opposition prepares to stage the mother of all marches this Wednesday to protest President Nicolas Maduro’s efforts to consolidate power, the besieged leader has called for a countermarch and declared plans to expand the country’s civilian militias.

Maduro, speaking to thousands of uniformed militia members assembled Monday at the presidential palace in Caracas, said they must determine whether they are with the homeland or with the betrayal of the homeland.

The president announced a goal to ramp up their ranks to half a million, from the current 100,000, and to arm each with a gun. On Sunday, he’d ordered military troops to fan out nationwide.

We are going to mobilize, to fight, to continue fighting to prevent any intention of the right to subvert the constitutional order, added Diosdado Cabello, vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party.

The Maduro supporter, a lawmaker in the National Assembly, said he expected about 60,000 motorcyclists to ride in support of the government Wednesday.

At least five people have been killed in two weeks of protests, with security forces firing rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons. The turbulence erupted after the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s March 30 announcement that it would strip the opposition-controlled National Assembly of its legislative powers. The court – stacked with appointees of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez – reversed its position in the wake of domestic and international outcries about an attempted power grab.

Thousands of Maduro’s opponents are expected to turn out in the capital Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time to pressure his administration to respect the assembly’s autonomy, schedule long-delayed elections, free political prisoners and restore other democratic norms.

While the main march is planned for Caracas, Unidad Venezuela, a coalition of opposition parties, also is organizing marches in each of the country’s 24 states, according to the group’s Twitter account. Demonstrations also are planned at the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington starting at noon local time.

Venezuela’s defense minister, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, assured Maduro of professional soldiers’ loyalty. And the country’s foreign minister, Delcy Rodríguez, also expressed solidarity with her boss and against outside forces such as the “imperialist” United States.

We will continue defeating them in the international field, Rodríguez tweeted late Monday. There will be no imperial force on Earth that crushes the spirit of the sovereign people of Venezuela.

But the populist government’s opponents also are appealing to military and civilian troops to back their cause.

We know that behind those shields are Venezuelans who accompany us in this struggle for a change, the National Assembly’s president, Julio Borges, said in a tweet Tuesday.

The National Socialist Party has ruled Venezuela for 17 years. Economic pressures have mounted in recent years, especially since the price of oil – Venezuela’s chief export – began falling in 2014. Venezuelans face chronic, severe shortages of food, medicine and other basics in what once was Latin America’s wealthiest country.

Wednesday’s mass protest falls on a significant date for Venezuelans: On April 19, 1810, Venezuelans began their quest for independence from Spain.

Maduro faces intensifying pressure, from internal political foes and from international bodies such as the Organization of American States, to back off from violence.</s>Venezuela's opposition is looking to keep up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro by taking to the streets again Thursday hours after three people were killed and hundreds arrested in the biggest anti-government demonstrations in years.

Tens of thousands of protesters demanding elections and denouncing what they consider to be an increasingly dictatorial government were met by a curtain of tear gas and rubber bullets as they attempted to march to downtown Caracas on Wednesday. Dozens had to slide down a concrete embankment and into the Guaire River to escape the noxious fumes.

Across the country, the clashes were intense. Pro-government militias, some of whose members were armed, were blamed for the two deaths, including that of a teenager in Caracas who was heading to a soccer game with friends. Overnight, a National Guard sergeant was killed and a colonel injured when their squad was attacked with gunfire while trying to control disturbances in a city near Caracas, the chief prosecutor's office said.

In several cities, protesters described being terrorized by militia members, some of them armed and circling the protesters on motorcycles.

As night fell, a group of youths tore down signs and billboards to build barricades from which they threw Molotov cocktails and rocks at riot police.

The three killings bring to eight the death toll since protests began three weeks ago over the Supreme Court's decision to strip the opposition-controlled congress of its last remaining powers, a move that was later reversed amid a storm of international criticism.

As protesters with burning eyes headed home, the opposition called for another round of street demonstrations on Thursday.

"If today we were millions, tomorrow even more of us need to come out," said opposition governor and two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, who last week was barred from running for office for 15 years.

In the midst of the demonstrations, General Motors announced it had stopped doing business in Venezuela after authorities took control of its only factory in the country in what GM said was an illegal judicial seizure of its assets.

The plant was confiscated on Wednesday as anti-government protesters clashed with authorities in a country that is roiling in economic troubles such as food shortages and triple-digit inflation.

The Detroit automaker said in a statement Thursday that other assets such as vehicles were taken from the plant, causing irreparable damage to the company. GM has about 2,700 workers in the country, where it's been the market leader for over 35 years.

The Supreme Court's decision has energized Venezuela's fractious opposition, which had been struggling to channel growing disgust with Maduro over widespread food shortages, triple-digit inflation and rampant crime.

Opponents are pushing for Maduro's removal through early elections and the release of scores of political prisoners. The government last year abruptly postponed regional elections the opposition was heavily favored to win and cut off a petition drive to force a referendum seeking Maduro's removal before elections late next year. The opposition sees the government measures as turning Venezuela into a nearly full-blown dictatorship.

But the government has shown little interest in backing down.

Maduro, addressing supporters at a much smaller but still large countermarch of mostly state workers, said he was "anxious" to see elections take place sometime "soon" and repeated his call for dialogue, something many in the opposition see as a stalling tactic.

"Today they attempted to take power by force and we defeated them again," said Maduro, adding that in recent hours authorities had rounded up several armed opponents seeking to carry out a coup.

He didn't provide any evidence to back up the coup claims, and the opposition rejected them as desperate attempt to intimidate Venezuelans from exercising their constitutional right to protest.

As tensions have mounted, the government has used its almost-complete control of Venezuela's institutions to pursue its opponents. On Wednesday alone, more than 500 protesters were arrested nationwide, according to Penal Forum, a local NGO that provides legal assistance to detainees. It was unclear how many people remained in custody.

Foreign governments are also warning about the increasingly bellicose rhetoric coming from the government. The U.S. State Department said those who commit human rights abuses and undermine Venezuela's democratic institutions would be held accountable.

"We are concerned that the government of Maduro is violating its own constitution and is not allowing the opposition to have their voices heard, nor allowing them to organize in ways that expresses the views of the Venezuelan people," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters Wednesday.

Opposition marchers included Liliana Machuca, who earns about $20 a month holding two jobs teaching literature. Although she doesn't expect change overnight, she said protesting is the only option the opposition has against an entrenched, increasingly repressive government.

"This is like a chess game and each side is moving whatever pieces they can," said Machuca, her face covered in a white, sticky substance to protect herself from the effects of tear gas. "We'll see who tires out first."</s>Anti-government protesters march with a banner that reads in Spanish "Freedom without fear" along a highway in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Tens of thousands of opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets of Caracas in what's been dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The latest on opposition and pro-government marches in Venezuela (all times local):

The U.S. secretary of state says the Trump administration is concerned about the political turmoil in Venezuela and feels socialist President Nicolas Maduro is trying to squash the voice of his opponents.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson tells reporters at the State Department that the U.S. is "concerned that the government of Maduro is violating its own constitution and is not allowing the opposition to have their voices heard." He says Venezuela's government is not allowing the opposition "to organize in ways that expresses the views of the Venezuelan people."

Tillerson says the U.S. is watching the situation closely and is working with others, particularly through the Organization of American States, to communicate its concerns to Venezuela.

Authorities say a second protester has been killed in anti-government protests taking place across Venezuela.

The 23-year-old woman identified as Paola Ramirez was killed by gunfire from pro-government groups circling protesters in the western city of San Cristobal, the town's mayor told The Associated Press. There were no other details immediately available.

Earlier, a 17-year-old was pronounced dead at a Caracas hospital after being shot in the head while walking near a protest.

A Venezuelan teenager who was shot in the head near anti-government protests in the capital has died.

Miguel Salomon is president of the Clinicas Caracas hospital. He says the boy died in the operating room as surgeons attempted to save his life.

Venezuela's chief prosecutor said she is investigating the Wednesday shooting incident amid conflicting reports over the cause of death. Some opponents of President Nicolas Maduro say armed pro-government militias opened gunfire on a crowd of protesters, bu top officials say the boy named Carlos Moreno was assaulted while walking home from a soccer game.

There have been five other deaths nationwide tied to protests that began in early April after the Supreme Court gutted the opposition-controlled congress of its last remaining powers.

Venezuela has reiterated to the Organization of American States that it does not recognize the hemispheric group's resolution saying the South American country had violated constitutional order.

Venezuelan Ambassador Samuel Moncada spoke as the opposition and government supporters held dueling marches in Caracas.

Moncada told members of the Washington-based organization that the resolution by the OAS on April 3 was to blame for the violence that occurred at demonstrations in the last two weeks.

The ambassador also accused the United States and OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro of encouraging an overthrow of Venezuela's socialist government, echoing an earlier accusation by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

A senior diplomatic official for the Western Hemisphere was in Miami condemning the government of Venezuela as the opposition in the South American nation flooded into the streets for a massive demonstration.

Organization of American States Secretary General Luis Almagro told an audience at an economic forum that Venezuela has "deteriorated into a full-scale dictatorship." He said Venezuelans have been denied basic human rights and that the government of President Nicolas Maduro is only concerned with maintaining its power.

Almagro said the OAS would continue to seek a restoration of democracy.

He spoke Wednesday at the 7th World Strategic Forum at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

The OAS recently issued a strong rebuke to Venezuela for the slide toward militarism. Maduro said the hemispheric organization was persecuting his country.

Marchers in the opposition demonstration in Caracas included Liliana Machuca, who earns about $20 a month holding two jobs teaching literature.

Her face was covered in a white substance to protect herself from the nauseous effects of what she expects will be another day of dodging tear gas canisters.

Machuca said during Wednesday's march says she doesn't expect change overnight, but believes that protesting is her only option after all the abuses she says have been committed by the government.

She says: "This is like a chess game and each side is moving whatever pieces they can. ..... we'll see who tires out first." A short block away from where the opposition was gathering, a sea of red-shirted government supporters marched by calmly, some dancing to a salsa band. They included state workers like Leidy Marquez, who was bused in from Tachira state on the other side of teh country. Venezuelan National Guard members are deploying tear gas on an opposition march in western Caracas in an effort to disperse demonstrators. The marchers who have flooded some major streets are refusing to budge. Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro called on Venezuelans to take to the streets on Wednesday for what they dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled socialist leader. Government supporters are holding their own counter demonstration. Rodriguez spoke Wednesday during a visit to the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, referring to dueling opposition and pro-government marches being held the same day in the South American country. The Cuban official notes that Venezuela is a sovereign state with a democratically elected government. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused the U.S. State Department of encouraging Venezuelan opponents to attempting a government overthrow. American officials have rejected such charges in the past. Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro have called on Venezuelans to take to the streets for what they've dubbed the "mother of all marches" against the embattled socialist leader. Demonstrators are converging from 26 different points spread across the capital to attempt to march downtown to the Ombudsman's office. It's a route tens of thousands of angry protesters have attempted a half-dozen times in the past few weeks only to find their progress blocked by light-armored vehicles and a curtain of tear gas and rubber bullets fired by riot police officers. At least five deaths have been blamed on the strong-armed response to protests that were triggered by the government-stacked Supreme Court's decision three weeks ago to strip the opposition-controlled congress of its last remaining powers.</s>MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – Speaking at a pro-government rally in the capital, Caracas, on Wednesday, Maduro called opposition leader Julio Borges a "coward," as quoted by The Washington Post, but also said that all the sectors of the opposition who were willing to engage in dialogue were invited to do so.

Henrique Capriles, one of the leaders of the Venezuelan opposition, announced on Wednesday that major anti-government protests were also planned for Thursday.

The most recent protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro started in Venezuela after the country’s Supreme Court attempted to take on the legislative functions of the country's National Assembly, controlled by the opposition. The court's ruling was later reversed, however, tensions remained in the country, which is suffering from a severe economic crisis.

The opposition has blamed the Venezuelan government for the deaths of people during the recent demonstrations.</s>Clashes between protesters and security forces erupted in Venezuela during marches taking place Wednesday in at least 12 cities across the country.

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets to protest the government of President Nicolás Maduro as the country marked its 207th anniversary of the revolution that led to its independence from Spain.

A teenager who was shot in the head in Caracas near one of the protests has died in the hospital, according to the Associated Press. Opponents of the government said pro-government militias opened fire on a crowd, but government officials say the boy was assaulted while walking home from a soccer game.

Marches started in the early morning; closer to noon, the Venezuelan National Guard started deploying tear gas on people marching on the west side of Caracas, according to the Associated Press.

Liliana Machuca, a teacher in Caracas told the AP she believes protesting is her only option after all the "abuses" she says have been committed by the government.

"This is like a chess game and each side is moving whatever pieces they can. ... we'll see who tires out first," she said.

The country entered its fourth week of protests following two Supreme Court decisions — to revoke the impunity that protects legislators and to dissolve the opposition-controlled legislature, a move that many including the Organization of American States (AOS) dubbed as an "auto-coup d'etat."

The Supreme Court reversed the decisions amid mounting international pressure and after the Venezuelan Attorney General, Luisa Ortega Díaz, called the decisions "a rupture of the constitutional order."

Since then, people have been protesting for the removal of the Supreme Court Justices, the reinstatement of gubernatorial and local elections, the release of the political prisoners and ultimately, Maduro's resignation.

RELATED: Mother of Jailed Venezuelan Opposition Leader: Americans Need to Know People 'Are Suffering'

"I went to the rally because I wanted to get those images of what's going on, of people protesting. I know it'll help us get rid of this government," Hector Trejo told NBC News. Trejo, 47, is a photographer for El Estímulo magazine covering Western Caracas. "But it's hard because when government supporters see you with a camera they send motorcycles to try and grab it from you," he added.

Human rights organizations, several Latin American countries and the United States have accused Venezuelan security forces of using excessive force and violence to quash the protesters. Protesting is a right protected by the Venezuelan constitution. During this last wave, at least five people have died and hundreds have been arrested.

Maduro accused the U.S. State Department of encouraging a military intervention.

The country is in the middle of an economic crisis with an inflation rate that reached 800 percent in January. People are starving and the lack of medication and supplies has led to deaths.

"I came to march because I believe in this country and I want our youth to have a future; Venezuelans want to stay," said Mercedes Expósito, 53, who told NBC News that people say they want to stay in the marches though they're "choking from the tear gas; they will wait until the government runs out of its bombs."</s>Racked by food shortages and political unrest, Venezuela swelled with what organizers are calling the "mother of all protests" on Wednesday. Demonstrators have taken to the streets in the capital, Caracas, and other major cities across the country to rally against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, who assumed office precisely five years ago.

Throughout the day, those rallies often devolved into clashes between demonstrators and security forces — chaotic, violent scenes rent by tear gas, tossed rocks and even two reported deaths.

Citing witnesses in Caracas, Reuters reports that Carlos Moreno, a teenage student who had not planned to join the demonstration, was shot in the head after "government supporters approached an opposition gathering and fired shots." The news service says he died in the hospital later.

Later in the day a 23-year-old woman named Paola Ramirez was also shot and killed by pro-government groups, according to The Associated Press.

They were not the first to be felled in the course of the anti-Maduro protests that have been mounting since late last month. As of last week, five protesters — including a 13-year-old boy — had died of injuries suffered in fights with riot police.

But the protesters who showed up Wednesday vowed to keep struggling against Maduro and voicing their displeasure with the state of the country.

"This is exhausting — but we won't give up until we achieve a better country and democracy," Luiza Mayorca, a lawyer and mother of three, told NPR's Phil Reeves in Caracas. "Every time we do something, that's what we feel: that the worst thing would be to stay home, let fear take over us. This government, this regime, is making life miserable, and we cannot accept it."

"We want to get out of all this oppression and dictatorship, all the mistreatment we have had — the hunger, the kids dying in the countryside, the poverty," another protester, an unemployed schoolteacher named Libertad Diaz, told Phil.

By several media accounts, hundreds of thousands of anti-Maduro demonstrators flooded city streets to protest bread scarcity, ballooning inflation — which several estimates peg at triple digits — and what they see as an increasingly dictatorial regime.

Protesters point to a moment a few weeks ago as proof of Maduro's ever-tightening grasp on the levers of power, when a Supreme Court loyal to the president attempted to nullify the opposition-dominated Legislature. The court backpedaled and restored power to the body after the abortive attempt drew anger both in Venezuela and the international community.

Maduro's opposition is also demanding new elections, which were indefinitely postponed last year — mere months after Maduro also canceled a recall referendum that could have ousted him from power.

"What will end the phase in which our country currently finds itself? Allowing free and democratic elections and respecting the constitution, to put a stop to this coup d'état that's being staged and controlled by Maduro together with the Supreme Court," Henrique Capriles, a leading figure of the opposition, tells the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Capriles, whom Deutsche Welle calls "the opposition's most promising candidate for the coming elections in 2018," was banned last week from holding office for 15 years — a move Capriles says he does not recognize.

Maduro, for his part, has rejected the unrest as manufactured by forces outside Venezuela's borders.

"The US government, the state department, have given the green light, the approval for a coup process to intervene in Venezuela," Maduro said in a televised address Tuesday, according to The Guardian.

In response to Wednesday's massive protests, which had long been in the works, Al-Jazeera reports Maduro ordered the Venezuelan military to march in Caracas in "defense of morality" and "in repudiation of the traitors of the country."

"From the first reveille, from the first rooster crow, the Bolivarian National Armed Forces will be in the streets ... saying, 'Long live the Bolivarian Revolution,' " he announced, referring to the populist "revolution" that brought his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, to power in 1999.

The military presence did little to ease the upheaval, however — or to dissuade protesters like Diaz.

"We're going to go on struggling," she said Wednesday, "because the one who tires, loses."</s>A 17-year-old boy died after being shot Wednesday during massive protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the sixth person killed this month in a mounting political crisis.

As the latest clashes broke out in the capital with riot police firing tear gas to push back stone-throwing demonstrators, an unidentified man on a motorcycle shot the boy in the head, witnesses said.

Violence erupted when thousands of opposition protesters tried to march on central Caracas, a pro-government bastion where red-clad Maduro supporters were massing for a counter-demonstration.

The marchers were forced back by lines of soldiers and police deployed to contain what the opposition vowed would be the "mother of all protests."

The 17-year-old was shot by motorcycle-riding gunmen who also threw tear gas canisters into a crowd of protesters, Amadeo Leiva, head of the Clinicas Caracas Hospital which treated him, told AFP.

Prosecutors said they had opened an investigation.

The opposition has repeatedly accused the government of sending groups of armed thugs to attack protesters. The security forces do nothing to stop them and themselves repress peaceful protesters, opponents say.

Authorities had already reported five other people killed, including a boy of 13, in protests around the country earlier this month.

This is the largest day of demonstrations in more than two weeks of violent protests that have seen more than 200 arrested.

Moves by Maduro to tighten his grip on power have escalated the country's political and economic crisis.

Pressure on the leftist leader has been mounting since 2014, as falling prices for Venezuela's crucial oil exports have aggravated an economic crisis, creating severe shortages of food and medicine in the state-led economy.

The crisis escalated on March 30, when the Supreme Court tried to take over the powers of the National Assembly, the only lever of government Maduro and his allies do not control.

The court partly backtracked after an international outcry, but the tension only increased when authorities slapped a political ban on opposition leader Henrique Capriles on April 7.

Those events have galvanized the often divided opposition in its efforts to force Maduro from power.

"We have to end this dictatorship. We're fed up. We want elections to get Maduro out, because he's destroyed this country," said protester Ingrid Chacon, a 54-year-old secretary.

The president in turn has urged his supporters, the military, and civilian militias to defend the socialist "revolution" launched by his predecessor Hugo Chavez in 1999.

The center-right opposition has called for the military -- a pillar of Maduro's power -- to abandon him.

"It is the moment for the armed forces to demonstrate that they are with the constitution and with the people," legislative speaker Julio Borges said Tuesday.

But the defense minister, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, has pledged the army's "unconditional loyalty," while Maduro blasted Borges for inciting a "coup."

The president has sought to rally his troops this week, sending the army into the streets and ordering pro-government militias to be expanded to half a million members, "each with a rifle."

"The hour of combat has arrived," Maduro said.

On Tuesday night he activated a military, police and civilian operation called the "Zamora Plan" aimed at combatting a supposed coup attempt -- which the president says is being orchestrated by Venezuela's opposition and the United States.

In Latin America, where other governments are increasingly alarmed by Venezuela's instability, 11 countries including Brazil, Mexico and Chile issued a statement Monday condemning the deaths of protesters and urging the security forces to show restraint.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner echoed that call, urging the security forces to "protect, not prevent, peaceful demonstrations."

Maduro, speaking at a meeting with high-ranking political and military officials Tuesday, denounced that as a "green light (for) a coup."

According to a survey by pollster Venebarometro, seven in 10 Venezuelans disapprove of Maduro, whose term does not end until 2019.</s>Racked by food shortages and political unrest, Venezuela swelled with what organizers are calling the "mother of all protests" on Wednesday. Demonstrators have taken to the streets in the capital, Caracas, and other major cities across the country to rally against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, who assumed office precisely five years ago.

Throughout the day, those rallies often devolved into clashes between demonstrators and security forces — chaotic, violent scenes rent by tear gas, tossed rocks and even two reported deaths.

Citing witnesses in Caracas, Reuters reports that Carlos Moreno, a teenage student who had not planned to join the demonstration, was shot in the head after "government supporters approached an opposition gathering and fired shots." The news service says he later died in the hospital.

Later in the day a 23-year-old woman named Paola Ramirez was also shot and killed by pro-government groups, according to The Associated Press.

They were not the first to be felled in the course of the anti-Maduro protests that have been mounting since late last month. As of last week, five protesters — including a 13-year-old boy — had died of injuries suffered in fights with riot police.

But the protesters who showed up Wednesday vowed to keep struggling against Maduro and voicing their displeasure with the state of the country.

"This is exhausting — but we won't give up until we achieve a better country and democracy," Luiza Mayorca, a lawyer and mother of three, told NPR's Phil Reeves in Caracas. "Every time we do something, that's what we feel: that the worst thing would be to stay home, let fear take over us. This government, this regime, is making life miserable, and we cannot accept it."

"We want to get out of all this oppression and dictatorship, all the mistreatment we have had — the hunger, the kids dying in the countryside, the poverty," another protester, an unemployed schoolteacher named Libertad Diaz, told Phil.

By several media accounts, hundreds of thousands of anti-Maduro demonstrators flooded city streets to protest bread scarcity, ballooning inflation — which several estimates peg at triple digits — and what they see as an increasingly dictatorial regime.

Protesters point to a moment a few weeks ago as proof of Maduro's ever-tightening grasp on the levers of power, when a Supreme Court loyal to the president attempted to nullify the opposition-dominated Legislature. The court backpedaled and restored power to the body after the abortive attempt drew anger both in Venezuela and the international community.

Maduro's opposition is also demanding new elections, which were indefinitely postponed last year — mere months after Maduro also canceled a recall referendum that could have ousted him from power.

"What will end the phase in which our country currently finds itself? Allowing free and democratic elections and respecting the constitution, to put a stop to this coup d'état that's being staged and controlled by Maduro together with the Supreme Court," Henrique Capriles, a leading figure of the opposition, tells the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Capriles, whom Deutsche Welle calls "the opposition's most promising candidate for the coming elections in 2018," was banned last week from holding office for 15 years — a move Capriles says he does not recognize.

Maduro, for his part, has rejected the unrest as manufactured by forces outside Venezuela's borders.

"The US government, the state department, have given the green light, the approval for a coup process to intervene in Venezuela," Maduro said in a televised address Tuesday, according to The Guardian.

In response to Wednesday's massive protests, which had long been in the works, Al-Jazeera reports Maduro ordered the Venezuelan military to march in Caracas in "defense of morality" and "in repudiation of the traitors of the country."

"From the first reveille, from the first rooster crow, the Bolivarian National Armed Forces will be in the streets ... saying, 'Long live the Bolivarian Revolution,' " he announced, referring to the populist "revolution" that brought his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, to power in 1999.

The military presence did little to ease the upheaval, however — or to dissuade protesters like Diaz.

"We're going to go on struggling," she said Wednesday, "because the one who tires, loses."</s>Venezuela braced for rival demonstrations Wednesday for and against President Nicolas Maduro, whose moves to tighten his grip on power have triggered deadly unrest and escalated the country's political and economic crisis.

[CARACAS] Venezuela braced for rival demonstrations Wednesday for and against President Nicolas Maduro, whose moves to tighten his grip on power have triggered deadly unrest and escalated the country's political and economic crisis.

Mr Maduro's opponents are vowing to stage the "mother of all protests" calling for his ouster, after two weeks of violent demonstrations that have left five people dead and dozens wounded.

Sowing fears of more violence, Mr Maduro is in turn urging his supporters, the military and civilian militias to defend the leftist "revolution" launched by his late predecessor Hugo Chavez in 1999.

It is set to be the biggest day of protests since Mr Maduro's allies moved to strip the power of the opposition-majority legislature - the only lever of government they do not control - and banned opposition leader Henrique Capriles from politics.

The streets of Caracas have seen running battles pitting masked protesters hurling stones and Molotov cocktails against riot police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon.

The protests have been relatively small so far, with turnout in the thousands.

The opposition is now hoping to flood the streets with a sea of protesters, whom they are urging to remain peaceful.

They plan to march from 26 rally points toward central Caracas, a pro-Maduro bastion and the seat of government. The authorities say they will not allow them into the area, where the rival rally will be held.

Mr Maduro's camp vowed not to be outdone by the opposition.

"The whole of Caracas will be held by the revolutionary forces," said lawmaker Diosdado Cabello, one of the president's most powerful allies.

Pressure on Mr Maduro has increased in an economic crisis aggravated by a fall in prices for Venezuela's crucial oil exports, which has triggered severe shortages of food and medicine.

On Tuesday the centre-right opposition repeated its call for the military - a pillar of Mr Maduro's power - to abandon him.

"It is the moment for the armed forces to demonstrate that they are with the constitution and with the people," said opposition congressional leader Julio Borges.

But Venezuela's defense minister, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, vowed the army's "unconditional loyalty". Mr Maduro rallied his troops this week, vowing to send the army into the streets and ordering pro-government militias to be expanded to half a million members, "each with a rifle". International campaign group Human Rights Watch said strengthening of the militia aimed to intimidate the opposition.

"We know of no other similar case in Latin America of a government arming urban militias," the group's Americas director Jose Miguel Vivanco told a news conference in Washington.

"By that I mean delinquents, gangs that act with total impunity and intimidate citizens, with power to shoot and make arrests."

In Latin America, where other governments are increasingly alarmed by Venezuela's instability, 11 countries including Brazil, Mexico and Chile issued a statement Monday condemning the deaths of protesters and urging the security forces to show restraint.

The fragmented opposition has been galvanised since the Supreme Court issued a ruling on March 30 seizing the legislature's power.

The court partly backtracked after an international outcry, but tension only increased when authorities slapped a political ban on Mr Capriles on April 7.

Venezuela suffered its last major wave of unrest in 2014, when 43 people were killed in anti-government riots.</s>At least two persons have died in the anti-government demonstrations in Venezuela that saw more than 400 people arrested, according to the country’s Criminal Forum.

While some 57 persons have been injured on Wednesday said the Mayor of Caracas’ Ramon Muchaco, Efe news reported from social media updates.

The demonstrators were attempting to approach the office of the Ombudsman to ask for the official’s support in the process that was launched by the opposition-controlled Parliament against the Supreme Court magistrates who took over some legislative duties.

The two persons killed during the protests were a 17-year-old boy in Caracas and a 23-year-old woman in Tachira state, the local media and the public prosecutor’s office said.

The Director of the Venezuelan Criminal Forum, Alfredo Romero, told EFE that the lawyers who were advising the arrested were constantly updating and verifying the figures in the capital as well as in the 23 states of Venezuela, as “too many cases had been registered in only one day.”

Muchaco said that the hospitals in his jurisdiction were taking care of 57 people “from the demonstration,” who tried unsuccessfully to reach the Ombudsman’s Office in the centre of the Venezuelan capital here.

“Everyone is out of danger,” Muchaco said on his Twitter account.

The two persons killed apparently were not participating in the demonstrations and were shot by unknown perpetrators, according to preliminary information.

Venezuela’s Executive Vice President Tareck el Aissami rejected accusations by opposition groups who blamed the government of Nicolas Maduro for the deaths.

After almost three weeks of anti-government protests on the streets of Venezuela and coupled with Wednesday’s figure, the current death toll has increased to eight, including one police officer.

Almost one thousand people have been arrested.

The police on Wednesday fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators and block their marches.

The huge demonstration included thousands of government opponents who assembled and marched from 26 separate spots around the capital to the Libertador district.

The Libertador district encompasses part of the capital’s metro area’s central and western zones and is the area where key government buildings are located.
Venezuelan security forces clash with opposition demonstrators in the so-called "Mother of All Marches" against President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas. Two students and a National Guard sergeant are shot dead.