And china backed president. Maintains that no army chiefs have turned against him but on the streets images of an army against the people of government standing by its claim that what we are witnessing is an attempt into being defeated p. W. News starts right now. Im off to our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world welcome but we begin tonight in venezuela where violent clashes continue on the streets of the capital caracas it all erupted earlier today after of its wireless Opposition Leader and self declared president one urged the army to help him topple Nicolas Maduro now this footage shows an armored government vehicle plowing headlong into a crowd of demonstrators outside a military base in the city. Protesters were answering why does call to take to the streets to alst president maduro white have said earlier that hes secured the backing of military leaders but his veiled to stop what he is calling a military coup saying he has the total loyalty of his military commanders. Well in our interview with one b. You asked him how he justifies his call for an uprising against the government of venezuela. Its clear that they are the ones who if you snipped government powers they have carried on a continuous coup since two thousand and eighteen they have disregarded the rule of law they have discarded the constitution they failed to hold free and Fair Elections and they seized power today the armed forces have taken an important step by siding with the people our process and weve said this is peaceful a nonviolent and we are not going to change that the ones who have caused violence through the Armed Paramilitary forces they call collectives not the regime and well maintain a nonviolent stance as demonstrated by the venezuelan people when they took to the streets to protest but its what i got and that was one of the speaking with this earlier this evening over more on the situation im joined by our latin america correspondent javier are great as he is monitoring events for us from bogota colombia good evening to you we know weve heard one quite urging that its whaling troops to unite against from where you are its a night is it possible to say how much support within the military really have. Well branch that is the most pressing question it has been ever since one widow declared himself interim president of venezuela and the question remains unanswered really in general terms we could say that the lower ranking officials of the military tends to support one way or of course because they are the ones who have to deal with the consequences of a failed economy with Power Outages with Food Shortages also in their families whereas the higher ranking officials tend to side with equal as modal because they are very closely connected to the president and have access to resources that the other members of the military do not have and that is why what weve seen and what makes this protest different from the ones weve seen before perhaps is the call by one way though to ask people to claim and to go to the military and ask them to support that is the urge that were seeing today to have the military support vital will it be enough that is the question but it is very difficult as long as the military elite sides with the colossal were getting one conflicting reports this evening. Were hearing from the u. S. Envoy saying that top one is where the officials have negotiated to help restore order in the country meaning that the opposition and mature government officials have been working together negotiating together thats the first weve heard the bad what about the wyatts that weve been seeing the ball is on the streets does that look to continue into the evening. Well its very very likely that it will continue towards the evening because as long as one widow keeps calling his people to actually go on the streets and to demand the military forces to side with him we will probably continue to see venezuelans on the streets and lets not forget brant that we have seen protests just like these many many times before in recent years and been as well i could dare to say that the reaction. By the government has even been a little bit more moderate than in other years where we would see hundreds of deaths in a day like this and that is ultimately because nicole as an adult knows that the International Pressure has mounted that is one of the bigger chief of one who knows that the world is watching venezuela and will take a very very great care in following up with the consequences if he doesnt a little suppresses these protests very violently and we do know weve weve got events happening every every minute now were getting reports that the villages where the opposition figure. Lopez you know he was freed earlier today is now seeking asylum in the Chilean Embassy if youve seen that report year but that would seem to suit to suggest that youve got a main opposition figure here who does not think that it is safe to stay in the country he needs asylum somewhere else how do you see that. Yes well its important to remember that the office was arrested in his house and violated there at that arrest this morning that was actually the first we heard this morning when this movement from one way to actually began to pull the office is a highly symbolic figure of the venezuelan a position he himself was once the most important face of that as well and opposition to one white oh if you will back in twenty fourteen and was arrested by the moderate government so he is definitely seeking shelter in the Chilean Embassy because he knows of what importance and what significance that he is as a figure and he is trying to protect not only himself but also his family so that chilean and as he has confirmed that they are now under the will you know the safe haven of the Chilean Embassy earlier today we heard from one of the he was starting the final fee as of of his plan to president Nicolas Maduro. But every hour is important in. This do you get the impression that the momentum that seemed that he enjoyed earlier in the day has been eroded as we approach the evening and what is your sense. Well again we have to look in reports and its very difficult to tell what is actually going on in the village well streets of but we could say that of the police from what it appears to be the movement is not as powerful or as big as you would expect from a day that will change the history of venezuela forever the government of the little has even dismissed these movements as isolated events that are under full control of the government so we dont know what is planned ahead lets not forget that one by two had announced these massive protests tomorrow on may first and not today so it took many by surprise and that might be a decisive factor in the support that he can get for the movement right now and what will happen then tomorrow i mean would would you agree that one has really crossed a line that with the events that weve seen today i mean there is no going back it seems that either he has a successful rising or you know his time is Opposition Leader may be numbered i mean do you think that is where we are headed right now. Well lets put it this way the chances of an Opposition Leader in venezuela to come and go are quite high we have seen it before but there is one particular element a very important one which is the International Community the International Community especially with the support of likes of the United States or even colombia here the neighboring countries are with one way too and that is perhaps the most important difference they could have a little knows that and has therefore been very careful in one way who has had some important achievements like even and leaving the country and coming back despite a travel ban so he has shown us that he has enough support to achieve things that no Opposition Leader has achieved before but the question and it will i have to repeat it again will be in the hands of the military if the military tonight by some way or another declares that it is with one way to go in there in the in the most important aspect which is the elite the ones who are leading the military then we will see a change probably in the situation in venezuela if not one could become one more of the list of leaders that have come and gone and before we let you go if its true that he still has control of the military and he remains if thats the case why is he not having one why do a arrested today and why is he still allowing one to be a free man if he is still if hes in control as he claims to be. Well its the same reason that the reason why he allowed one widow to come and leave from him as well even though he had a travel ban it is because he knows that one widow is being protected by the International Community and he has to be very careful because if the incident that happened today leads to an international accusation of crimes against humanity that would justify other types of actions including military action that is something you as a model should be afraid of especially considering that the United States and colombia with its also. Powerful army are backing so that is why the level of suppression is more moderate than what weve seen the father of position leaders and protests before all right steve youre our greatest in bogota tonight with the latest on the situation in venezuela thank you well its been around one hundred days since Opposition Leader won quite a declared himself that its one of those acting the president the u. S. And several other countries are backing his leadership but the actual president Nicolas Maduro continues to enjoy the support of the military which he claims is the case and much of its way in the bureaucracy so what exactly has accomplished in the last three months. Was. A commitment to the company i swear to formally assume. The National Executive powers as acting president venezuela was with those words won by doeth trust himself into the center of venezuelas political spotlight pressuring much of the International Community to pick sides. Armando the thirty five year old leader of the countrys National Assembly claimed monday or as election and twenty eighteen was illegitimate and called for a fresh vote it was a demand ignored despite pressure from the e. U. The United States and some south american countries who recognized why those authority less than a month after why those announcement the u. S. And its allies sought to send aid into the country attempted to secure free passage for the trucks as maduro warned the u. S. To stay out of Venezuelan Affairs several aid trucks were burned during the ensuing clashes the who exactly started the fire is still debated. Why dont gain supporters inside venezuela by promising to leave his country out of the grips of hyperinflation but he still relied on support from the u. S. And from venice with his neighbors he briefly traveled to several of them on a diplomatic tour raising concerns that he could be arrested upon his return to caracas but he was able to really enter the country as a free man thanks in part to foreign diplomats who met him at the airport. Despite his diplomatic push hes failed to gain the support of the constituent assembly a branch of the legislature controlled by maduro socialist party. They recently voted to strip of parliamentary immunity which could pave the way for his arrest. Why dont has long called on the military to turn against my dear oh and support his cause now the question is how many of them are ready to heed his call. For more now im joined here in the big table by a one hundred mark as vile as guns he is a researcher on latin america at the Free University here in berlin its good to have you on the show i want to ask you about these reports that were getting here from the u. S. Envoy from its way that abrams saying that three senior officials from president Nicolas Maduro government have negotiated with the opposition to restore order in the country is that is that a signal that things are turning in one why those favor well actually what we have seen is. One way though was declared president in charge of venezuela is that he was seeking for military support to. Reseat you had a constitution and until now he had been fanning out this task so what happened today is actually a very big surprise because he was kind of losing Popular Support little by little because people were getting exhausted about demonstrations in the street with little results and today was a big surprise that the man number three in the chain of command appeared together with and i mean its very base intact us and thats the first time weve seen that right of course the previous militarys that were saying that they were with way though they were either out of venice florida or were lower ranked military officers to actually fled to colombia so that is proof in there that there has been some defecting going on but we still dont have proof to say that the military has completely turned against Nicolas Maduro no of course not and the situation right now in minnesota is quite confused because actually theres a media blackout so its not clear its not there whats really happening now in. So it could be that is that this situation is like the government is saying that they have things under control and that heard the reports about it all on opus point. The concept of chilling report for asylum yes so it doesnt seem like a good sign in. The other hand there has been news of some type of determinations in other cities with imports of military bases so i think we still have to wait ok what belt geopolitics in all of this the United States and russia are very clear who they support and you know they are supporting you know opposing sides if you will how much influence is that have been on what we are witnessing right now well of course the main job political reason why even this father matters its all over serves so until now. Government has relied pretty much on russian and Chinese Investment in oil fields and however the u. S. Also has some investment in oil fields chevre and is in venice rather exporting oil so. Oil is oil is not the reason that is important geopolitically is it well thats what the mother will government always tells its before the war stats the u. S. Wants to claim innocent as a colony because we have the Largest Oil Reserves in the world so thats that has been always a part of it but its a country that is of such as you can be located in the north of south america which is a region thats really a active on them drug trade issues you know coming from colombian other Asian Countries so there are other risk factors apart from all the major reason what about the role of the European Union in this i mean we havent heard much there was a report that the European Union now saying you know we want the most moderation in this you know keep call other than that we havent heard. Much from the e. U. Can the e. U. Do anything right now well actually or the information that ive heard mostly from the side of the German Government is that theyre basically interested in the fate of the people in so theyre really much pushing forward to try to first have some type of solution to the humanitarian crisis that country faces and this has been. The main struggle of the way during the first days of this movement that finally got my daughter to accept some type of humanitarian aid coming into the country so you played a very Important Role here so thats that their districts reported that theyre touching theyre trying to first deal with a humanitarian crisis and with the political terms they are trying to get the kind of leads that lead to the us that theyve taken sides that politically europe has come out on the side of one so why be silent about that today one of why that was the is the man who earlier today said this is the final phase of a political uprising yes of course they have supported by all but as you know Foreign Place in the unions the coordination of a lot of countries so this is the main reason i believe that the main european leaders today are consulting actually about a common statements and so just as they have done in the United NationsSecurity Council for instance the feet of one. Is his fate in the hands of the opposition or is it in the hands of the United States tonight. Well its a combination its actually you need several and gradients you have to have a way though to seal a free man and probably tomorrow the transition president as he really should be according to the constitution you have to have internal support from the people which he has you have to have International Support which he has from the major countries that usually are related to minister except in russia and china which are not close allies where not close out. Until now and of course you need the army jus to make the constitution have some type of reality so thats thats i would say the key lies tonight or today in this coming days in the military and according to history. Military whenever they intervene to take try to topple the regime this tends to happen quickly minister and this tends to last known no longer than then a week and some hour bloody and some are less