target practice under the eyes of President Nicolas Maduro it took place
at Fort Peres makai where in 2017 a group of soldiers rose up against the
government this time it was about showing loyalty are you plotting a coup
or are you constitutionalists traitors never always loyal
Maduro seized the hand of western governments behind opposition protests
he says they're trying to overthrow him he knows the military is key to staying
in power opposition leader Juan Guido is trying to convince the military to join
his side following a church service for victims of violent street clashes he
made a direct appeal Venezuelan soldiers I'm talking to you this is the moment to
be on the Constitution side don't be afraid Guido's supporters are spreading
out across the country going to army barracks to spread the word Cueto has
proposed an amnesty in a bid to convince Venezuelan soldiers to join the
opposition none of the soldiers wants to be seen switching sides on camera one
says that the military is still firmly on the side of Maduro
a1 guido and his supporters hope that this will change in the coming days okay
it's let's get more now from Jennifer Camino Gonzalez she's a Venezuelan
journalist with DW in bomb Jennifer how important is the military's
role in resolving this crisis well they're critical I mean this is the
institution in Venezuela that decides honestly because they have the weapons
who is in power and who's not at a critical moment like this of course the
top leadership has sided with Maduro but the thing is it is about the lower ranks
if the lower ranks break from the military then the
weakens and then they have to sort of in a divided situation they could mean the
difference between Maduro being strong and Maduro being weak and so right now
as the top brass is backing him the opposition is clearly going for those
people in the barracks of people at the lower ranks to try to make the
difference right there now talking about the opposition the self-declared
president guido who is medoras rival at this point is calling for public protest
this week on Wednesday and Saturday numerous people were killed in previous
protests what can we expect this time well you should expect this showing
because the opposition and its supporters are fired up right now this
this declaration this proclamation of this interim presidency has really
breathe new life into the opposition now of course there's a fear and many people
fear of reprisals of violence but they know that the world is watching so I
think that we should expect people to come out but this is also going to be
the test how many people actually come out can the opposition bring another
showing quite like the one in the last week on the 23rd of January it remains
to be seen but I would say that they will come out now several European
governments including Germany have said they will recognize wite-out as
president if Maduro doesn't call fresh elections by Sunday
any chance of Maduro doing that it's not likely
Maduro knows that if you were to have an election it would also be heavily
monitored because they haven't just asked for an election they've asked for
a credible election and this is exactly the problem the last election that he
held he can't hold elections it's just that the last election was was basically
deemed a sham it was it was not credible and so he would not want to invite all
of that and all of an international attention
not to mention that if a credible election were to take place it is not
likely that he would win he doesn't seem to have a hole in the population that he
used to so it would be it would be shocking to me if he did and if he did
do that it's not likely that the election would actually be credible now
for people who are just coming in on this crisis Venezuela has been deal
with it for a while remind us again what led to cuido declaring himself interim
president seguido has declared himself interim president based on the
Constitution the Venezuelan Constitution allows for this because if a president
is in the case of what they say which is illegitimate or if the case ever the
president is not present then it falls on the National Assembly President to be
the interim president until elections can be called now what led to this
well basically 2017 is the key year that is when Maduro decided to strip the
national assembly off of its power and create an alternate legislature and so
because the National Assembly is controlled by the opposition they
basically stripped the opposition from any power so of course this this was a
move that he won but now this is the next step Jennifer thank you so much
Jennifer Camino Gonzalez they are talking to us from bomb
you