Venezuela's military stands with Maduro

Venezuela's military said that it will stand firmly behind embattled President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez and the army's chief operational head, Remigio Ceballos, attended an early morning ceremony at the country's Military School, in a show of support for the Maduro government.

Caracas: Venezuela's military said on national television on Thursday that it will stand firmly behind embattled President Nicolas Maduro at the air base where opposition leader Juan Guaido called for an uprising two days earlier.

Maduro, flanked by Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez and the army's chief operational head, Remigio Ceballos, attended an early morning ceremony at the country's Military School, in a show of support for the Maduro government.

Padrino said "it makes me angry inside" that Guaido tried to turned the military against each other and "break the military honour that is the most sacred thing that a soldier of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces has."

The army's chief Ceballos urged the military to stay loyal to Maduro and not to "throw away their military training" by confronting each other.

Guaido, meanwhile, backed by a small contingent of security forces, called for the military to turn against Maduro on Tuesday.

But police dispersed the crowds in clashes that raged for hours.

Thousands of Venezuelans heeded the opposition's call to fill streets around the nation a day later.

The streets of the capital were calm on Thursday.