Venezuela in crisis as Guaido calls for May Day protests

Our live coverage of Venezuela’s May Day protests has ended. Scroll below to catch up on what happened.

CNN’s Michael Holmes snapped pictures of the ongoing clashes between protestors and the National Guard, near La Carlota military base in Caracas.

Tear gas was being fired towards protesters while they were blocking a nearby highway, he said.

Speaking to a crowd in Caracas, Juan Guaido admitted that he did not have enough military defectors on his side to declare victory during yesterday’s unrest.

“We have to acknowledge that yesterday there weren’t enough [pro-Guaido military defectors],” the National Assembly President and opposition leader said.

He added: “We have to insist that all the armed forces [show up] together. We are not asking for a confrontation. We are not asking for a confrontation among brothers, it’s the opposite. We just want them to be on the side of the people.”

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido delivers a speech to supporters during a rally to commemorate May Day.

Venezuelan opposition leader and President of the National Assembly Juan Guaido has arrived at a protest site in Caracas.

“From now on everyday we’re going to have protests … until we reach our objective,” he told the crowd.

Guaido speaking to the crowd in Caracas.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro told reporters on Wednesday that “the possibility is close to zero” of the country intervening in Venezuela.

Bolsonaro also said the 25 members of the military who requested asylum at the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas on Tuesday were not able to enter the building.

“They were not able to get into the embassy because as we have seen in Venezuela, the Maduro dictatorship, there are obstacles so people can’t get into the embassy very easily,” Bolsonaro said.

The protests in Venezuela’s capital is just one of many around the country held by both government opponents and supporters.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido’s team has called for support from protesters in various locations across the country, including in the states of Tachira, Monagas, Falcon, Barinas, Amazonas, Aragua, Anzoategui and Apure.

But a “sizable portion” of the population has also gathered to march in support of President Nicolas Maduro, CNN’s Michael Holmes said in Caracas. He says the demonstrations were largely made up of those from working-class backgrounds – whom Maduro has vowed to “always defend” the rights of.

A supporter displays a poster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a rally on May Day in Caracas.

Crowds have started gathering in Altamira Square – at the center of the opposition heartland in Venezuela’s capital – but they’re “not showing signs of moving anywhere just yet,” said CNN’s Michael Holmes at the scene.

Altamira Square, Caracas

A protester makes Molotov cocktails.

Shortly after President Nicolas Maduro tweeted his support for the working class, opposition leader Juan Guaido put out his own message to mark International Workers’ Day.

Embattled president Nicolas Maduro is “now surrounded by scorpions in a bottle and it’s only a matter of time” before he’s ousted, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Wednesday.

“Maduro spent the day not in the company of Venezuelan forces, but surrounded by Cubans because he doubted the loyalty of the Venezuelan armed forces,” Bolton told reporters in a briefing on the White House lawn. 

His comments came the day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Maduro had been on the cusp of fleeing to Cuba before he was talked into staying by Moscow – a claim denied by both Maduro and Russia.

When asked what evidence the administration had to support Pompeo’s claims, Bolton said “this is one of those situations where I really can’t tell you the specifics of it.”

President Nicolas Maduro vowed to “always defend” the rights of the working class, in his first tweet Wednesday in the wake of mass protests across Venezuela on Tuesday.

“Happy Day of the Worker!” Maduro wrote in the post, marking International Workers’ Day.

The tweet was accompanied by a video montage showing happy workers.