Venezuela accuses US of trying to engineer coup

Caracas: Venezuela's vice president accused her US counterpart of "openly calling for a coup d'etat" ahead of a mass street protest announced by the opposition for Wednesday.

"Yankee go home! We won't let them interfere in the affairs of the homeland," Delcy Rodriguez said in televised remarks.

Her comments came in reaction to American Vice President Mike Pence, who had earlier posted a video on Twitter in which he branded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro "a dictator with no legitimate claim to power."

"As the good people of Venezuela make your voices heard tomorrow, on behalf of the American people, we say: estamos con ustedes. We are with you," Pence tweeted.

Venezuela's Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez accused Pence of having ordered "terrorists" to carry out acts of violence during Wednesday's protest.

The row came 24 hours after a group of soldiers rose up against Maduro at a command post in the north of Caracas and published a video on social media calling for the public to come out and support them.

They surrendered after the command post was surrounded by police and military units, with 27 people arrested. But their voices were heard, according to the non-governmental Social Conflict Observatory, which said on Tuesday that anti-Maduro protests were recorded in at least 30 different locations around the capital.

Jorge Rodriguez said the mutinous soldiers had confessed to handing out some of the weapons they stole on Monday from a command depot to opposition activists "so they can carry out acts of violence, (cause) injuries and deaths during the protest."

And he said they did so as they were following Pence's orders. Most of the protests took place in socially disadvantaged areas and some involved the blocking of streets and burning of garbage. Police used tear gas to disperse some of the crowds, including in the northern Cotiza neighborhood where the group of soldiers made their stand.

The unrest, which lasted in some places until Tuesday morning, was a small taste of what may come on Wednesday when protesters are set to mobilize behind National Assembly president Juan Guaido. The opposition deputy has branded Maduro a "usurper" and wants to establish a transitional government leading to elections.