Juan Guaido held a rally today in Caracas where he provided new details about the highly anticipated May 1 march. When he announced the march earlier this month, Guaido said that he hoped that it would be “the biggest in the history” of the country.
Speaking to a crowd in Chacaito today, Guaido told supporters that the march would have twenty rally points spread across the city.
When Guaido announced the march, he did not say what its final destination would be. Guaido’s silence has given rise to speculation that the march might be destined for the Miraflores Palace. Marching to Miraflores is Venezuela’s equivalent to crossing the Rubicon, and as a result such a march would almost certainly be met with deadly force from the authorities and regime supporters.
Guaido added fuel to that speculation by saying today that he would not announce the march’s destination, and that he would do so “at a time that will not give the dictatorship time to prepare”.
In a jab at critics who claim that the opposition has lost momentum in its offensive against the Maduro regime, Guaido said:
In this country, the only ones who is stuck is the regime; it doesn’t offer solutions, it’s not recognized [internationally], it doesn’t have money because it was stolen… the only one who is stuck is the regime. There isn’t a single Venezuelan today who doesn’t want to demand what’s ours, not only here in the country, but also [counting] the four million who have had to leave.
Guaido’s speech was broadcast live on several social media platforms, including Instagram, Youtube, and Periscope. The Maduro regime cut off access to those sites during the rally:
Minimum Monthly Salary Increased to Bs. 40,000
The Maduro government has decreed an increase to the minimum monthly salary, pegging the figure at Bs. 40,000 retroactive to April 16.
At the current black market rate (Bs. 5,627.63/USD), a Venezuelan making the minimum monthly salary takes home $7.11 USD at the end of the month. This latest increase is a jump of 122% from the last minimum monthly salary rate.
The salary increase was put into effect by the Gaceta Oficial N° 6.452, part of which reads:
It is the job of the revolutionary government to protect society and the people from the economic war being waged by imperialism and treasonous domestic groups that are pushing inflationary processes and the destabilization of the economy as instruments of economic, political and social disruption.
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