Guaido builds up exile state, vows to persevere

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido promised further appointments to his parallel administration intended to take the reins of government once President Nicolas Maduro leaves office.

Speaking before a seated audience of local and international supporters on the six-month anniversary of his putative interim presidency, Guaido dismissed "magic solutions" and called on Venezuelans to stay the course to prevent the country's political and economic crisis from turning into a "catastrophe".

The event, which doubled as a session of the opposition-led National Assembly over which Guaido presides, took place in a square in opposition-friendly eastern Caracas.

At today's open-air session, the National Assembly deputies approved a resolution to resurrect Venezuela's participation in the 1947 Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, a symbolic move intended to invoke regional cooperation for a political transition.

Guaido is recognized by dozens of western countries, including the US and Latin America's Lima Group that is meeting today in Buenos Aires. But his popular support is starting to wane after a failed aid campaign in February and a botched military uprising in April.

Guaido called for more UN cooperation and international "mediation", a term he uses to describe controversial Norwegian-sponsored negotiations with the government that are underway in Barbados. He promised impending appointments for the controller's office and the health sector, and called for more countries to establish registries of the growing diaspora.

The assembly has previously approved the appointments of shadow attorney general, security chief and the boards of national oil company PdV and its overseas subsidiary Citgo. But an approved central bank board apparently fell apart late last week after one of the appointments, respected former central bank president Ruth Krivoy, backed out. None of the appointees, who are in exile, has power inside Venezuela, as Maduro still controls all governing institutions.

In another symbolic move earlier today, Guaido issued a decree guaranteeing that Chevron will not lose its assets if the US government declines to extend a sanctions waiver to operate in Venezuela that expires on 27 July.

An expiry would constitute a "force majeure event that could temporarily suspend Chevron's activities in Venezuela, but in no case would that permit the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro to take control or expropriate those assets," the decree states. "When the temporary suspension ceases, all measures will be adopted to allow Chevron and its subsidiaries to resume activities."

Lights out on Guaido

Most Venezuelans could not see or hear Guaido's lengthy speech today because of a blackout that started yesterday afternoon.

Power began returning to Caracas and other areas after midnight, but for most of Venezuela the restoration was short-lived, if it came at all. Schools, businesses and government offices were ordered closed today as the government copes with the latest near-nationwide outage.

Among the affected states are Falcon, Monagas, Anzoategui and Zulia, which encompass PdV's key oil-producing and refining assets. The company relies on the fragile national power grid for most of its operations.

The government blamed the blackout, the fifth since 7 March, on an "electromagnetic attack".

Electricity ministry and state-owned Corpoelec officials say privately that the blackout appears to have been caused by another breakdown of the 765kV transmission system that connects the 10GW Guri hydroelectric complex to the rest of the country.