Colombia rallies region to back Venezuela revolt

Colombia is calling for an emergency meeting of the Lima Group to show support for the anti-government uprising taking place in neighboring Venezuela.

Colombia's foreign minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said on Twitter that Canada and the 13 Latin American countries that make up the group should show their "decisive support for the return of democracy and freedom to Venezuela."

The time and place of the meeting have not been set, the foreign ministry said.

The Lima Group supports Venezuela's political opposition.

The uprising led by opposition leader Juan Guaido and his longtime political mentor Leopoldo Lopez began this morning.

Lopez appeared at Guaido's side at the La Carlota military airbase in eastern Caracas after he was allegedly freed from house arrest by rebel guards. Clashes with live fire and tear gas are now occurring in the vicinity.

Guaido, the head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly who is recognized as Venezuela's interim president by the Lima Group, the US and most EU countries, is calling for the overthrow of President Nicolas Maduro.

Brazil, another prominent Lima Group member, was notably cautious this morning.

"It seems to us positive that there is a military movement that recognizes the constitutionality of President Juan Guaidó. They fulfill their constitutional duty of loyalty to the legitimate president. We need to see the size of this," Brazil's foreign minister Ernest Araujo said. "Brazil supports the process of democratic transition and hopes that the Venezuelan military will be part of this process of democratic transition."

Washington expressed its support for the rebellion. "The US government fully supports the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom and democracy. Democracy cannot be defeated," secretary of state Mike Pompeo said.

"The path to sanctions relief for individuals and entities aligned with the former Maduro regime, including institutions such as PdV, is to change behavior by supporting Venezuela's democratically elected leader and those who seek to restore democracy," the Treasury Department said. "The US and our partners and allies stand ready to leverage the tools of the international financial community to help swiftly restart Venezuela's economy."

White House national security adviser John Bolton took to Twitter to call on the Venezuelan armed forces to back the revolt.

Washington is Guaido's leading international patron.

Members of Maduro's inner circle "are trying to figure out what the golden ticket looks like, ‘What does it look like if I leave?'" Pompeo said yesterday. "When they start asking those questions, surely, some one of them will decide that there are better times ahead not supporting that thug."

Maduro has not been seen since the uprising began at dawn today. But his foreign minister Jorge Arreaza and other senior government officials are playing down the unfolding events as the work of a few insurgents that has not disrupted daily life for most Venezuelans.

The response from Russia, which is the leading voice of countries that continue to back Maduro, has been subdued so far.

The foreign ministry of Mexico, which is not a member of the Lima Group and has maintained a stance of non-interference, expressed concern about "a possible escalation of violence and bloodshed that may occur as a result of these events."