Venezuelans rally for and against embattled Maduro on revolution anniversary

Buoyed by the defection of a top general, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido predicted Saturday the month of February would be "decisive" in determining the future of the nation as he and socialist leader Nicolas Maduro held competing mass rallies in the capital.

National Assembly head Guaido, 35, had called Saturday's protest to ramp up the pressure on Maduro to step down, ten days after stunning the world by declaring himself "interim president" of the oil-rich but crisis-wracked country.

He received a boost before it began when an air force general became the highest ranking officer to abandon Maduro and recognize Guaido as the country's true leader.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton responded to that in a tweet calling on "all military members to follow General (Francisco) Yanez's lead."
Speaking at the European Union's headquarters in the east of the capital, he said this month "should be decisive."
At the pro-Maduro demonstration, Virginia Rondon, 69, hummed songs that glorified Chavez, and reminisced about his socialist revolution, saying: "I never experienced anything more beautiful in all my years."
Others denounced the specter of US intervention and called on the United Nations to halt "Trump's war."
The air force high command strategic planning director said "90 per cent of the armed forces don't support the dictator."
The Venezuelan air force posted a picture of Yanez on its Twitter account tagged with the word "traitor."