Abrams: Maduro making country weaker, not stronger

US Special Representative to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams says Nicolas Maduro's "last desperate resort of using the military" to crack down on the opposition party only makes the country "weaker."

"I think we saw something interesting and we saw many interesting things yesterday. But one of them was the regime which has the total control of the ability to imitate, to intimidate, to jail, to exile, to bribe, failed," said Abrams.

"It failed to be able to change the votes of 100 members of the National Assembly who wanted to support Juan Guaido, everyone of them knowing that he or she could be arrested tomorrow. And it didn't work."

Maduro's government moved aggressively to wipe out what remains of resistance to his socialist rule, attempting to install a pliant leadership in congress in a move opponents compared to an attempted coup in Venezuela’s last democratic institution.

The surprise gambit took place during a chaotic National Assembly session Sunday at which Maduro's chief challenger, Juan Guaidó, expected to be reelected head of the opposition-dominated legislature - and in the view of many countries, Venezuela's legitimate leader.

With security forces in riot gear blocking entry to the neoclassical legislature, Guaidó tried unsuccessfully to scale an iron fence to enter. Inside, lawmakers loyal to Maduro nimbly rushed to choose a substitute leader from a small faction of opposition deputies recently banished for allegedly taking government bribes.

Hours later, Guaidó - as was expected all along - was re-elected with the support of 100 of the National Assembly’s 167 members in an impromptu session held at the newsroom of El Nacional, the last major opposition newspaper.

Venezuela sits atop vast oil and mineral resources, but it has been imploding economically and socially in recent years. Critics blame the plunge on years of failed socialist rule and corruption, while Maduro's allies say U.S. sanctions are taking a toll on the economy.

The South American nation's 30 million people suffer soaring inflation and shortages of gasoline, running water and electricity, among basic services.

An estimated 4.5 million Venezuelans have abandoned their nation in an exodus rivaling war-torn Syria.

Abrams says the United States will look to help the opposition in positive and negative ways if needed.

"Congress has voted a fair amount of money to help the Democratic opposition in Venezuela. And we will be thinking of ways to use those funds and to try to get other countries to give political support, diplomatic support, financial support to the forces of freedom in Venezuela," said Abrams.

"On the negative side, we are looking at additional sanctions, personal sanctions, economic sanctions that we think will bring more pressure yet on the regime."