Guaido: Venezuela president palace his on army support

CARACAS, Venezuela

Venezuela’s opposition leader and self-declared interim President Juan Guaido on Tuesday said he would find an office at the presidential palace once he is backed by the army.

“We will need an office to work, very soon. When I get the support of the armed forces, I will go to Miraflores and take my office,” Guaido told supporters in the Santa Monica region of his intention to occupy the presidential palace.

Protesters gathered in Caracas, as well as other cities, after Guaido’s call for nationwide demonstrations against the power outage which has lasted since last week.

A decrease in the number of demonstrations was observed in Caracas, as communication and Internet access were interrupted due to the power blackout.

Venezuela plunged into darkness last Thursday with power cuts hitting 21 out of 23 states.

President Nicolas Maduro and his government have termed the outage a "sabotage" amid a lingering political crisis in the country.

Earlier Tuesday, Maduro announced the arrest of two suspects who were allegedly trying to sabotage a major hydroelectric power plant.

Venezuela has been rocked by protests since Jan. 10 when Maduro was sworn in for a second term following a vote boycotted by the opposition.

Tensions flared when Guaido declared himself acting president Jan. 23 -- a move supported by the U.S. and many European and Latin American countries.

Turkey, Russia, China, Iran, Bolivia Mexico have put their weight behind Maduro.

*Writing by Sena Guler