Guaido: Venezuela president palace his on army support

By Lokman Ilhan</p> <p>CARACAS, Venezuela (AA) – Venezuela’s opposition leader and self-declared interim President Juan Guaido on Tuesday said he would find an office at the presidential palace once he is backed by the army.</p> <p>“We will need an office to work, very soon. When I get the support of the armed forces, I will go to Miraflores and take my office,” Guaido told supporters in the Santa Monica region of his intention to occupy the presidential palace.</p> <p>Protesters gathered in Caracas, as well as other cities, after Guaido’s call for nationwide demonstrations against the power outage which has lasted since last week.</p> <p>A decrease in the number of demonstrations was observed in Caracas, as communication and Internet access were interrupted due to the power blackout.</p> <p>Venezuela plunged into darkness last Thursday with power cuts hitting 21 out of 23 states.</p> <p>President Nicolas Maduro and his government have termed the outage a &quot;sabotage&quot; amid a lingering political crisis in the country.</p> <p>Earlier Tuesday, Maduro announced the arrest of two suspects who were allegedly trying to sabotage a major hydroelectric power plant.</p> <p>Venezuela has been rocked by protests since Jan. 10 when Maduro was sworn in for a second term following a vote boycotted by the opposition.</p> <p>Tensions flared when Guaido declared himself acting president Jan. 23 — a move supported by the U.S. and many European and Latin American countries.</p> <p>Turkey, Russia, China, Iran, Bolivia and Mexico have put their weight behind Maduro.</p> <p> </p> <p>*Writing by Sena Guler<br> <br> </p> <p>