Once Venezuela was rich, but today the country is barely able to import food, medicines and everyday necessities. Millions of people have already fled abroad. President Nicolás Maduro is increasingly autocratic. Hundreds of thousands take to the streets against him, demanding Maduro's resignation. Instead, Juan Guaidó is to take over, self-proclaimed interim president.

These are the days of the most serious economic and political crisis Venezuela is going through. How do the people in the country handle it? What fears and hopes do you have? Voices from the capital Caracas:

Luis Mata , 32 years old, is from the state of Sucre in the east. He says in Caracas: "We need change, it can not go on, there is no work in the East, people are starving, there is no milk for the children, people feed on fish and yucca I have been in Caracas for three years and the situation here is also lousy. I am sure that Maduro will not give up his power voluntarily, rather he kills the people than relinquishes them. "

REUTERS

Guaidó in front of followers

Yohan Alexander , 32 years old, sells bananas on the street and has a six month old daughter: "I'm not going to the protest marches, I have a little baby, I can not do that, I used to be Chavista, but since Maduro came to power This president does nothing for Venezuela, we work here to survive, more is not enough, Guaidó could be a light on the horizon, it must go ahead, we lack food, there is No goods, we need medicines, I do not know what Maduro does - he introduced new money, but that does not help, because of inflation. "

A hooded boy with a bare chest: "We say: Maduro, sign your deed of resignation, we do not even like it when the Gringos march in. In no case a military invasion! Hopefully brings Guaidó Venezuela back to the front, we have at least for If we do not support him, if the people do not rise up, then everything will be the same: we are starving everyone, even the policemen who bombard us with tear gas and shotgun are hungry. "Our parents are struggling with three or four Jobs to buy food at all. "

A hooded girl with a pink jacket: "I'm 15 years old, I'll be 16 in March. My mother got sick and we do not get a doctor or medication for her. She's 52 years old, I fight for her and for my sister, I can not visit my relatives because there are no buses, how can Maduro say that the youth are fine, that everything is alright, that we are losing our youth here, the children are losing their childhood, if this crap is so continues. "

DPA

Rally in Caracas

Adon Hernández , 62, sits on a park bench. "I'm for Maduro, I'm severely disabled, the governments before have not helped me a bit, I've got support since Chávez, nobody can stand up there and explain like Guaidó: I'm the president, that's not how it's going to be they do not get any further, you only get something here if you get the majority in an election, and in the end I think that only strengthens the government of Maduro. "

Edgar Figuerero , a retired doctor. "I was at the demonstration against the government, I was never in my life Chavist, here you can not go out in the evening, there is violence on the street from eight o'clock Guaidó is not allowed to play crazy, he needs good advisers "It must be a peaceful change of power, I am not in favor of US military intervention, but they should provide humanitarian aid, Maduro should learn from history, otherwise he will end up like Napoleon: alone, sad and abandoned."