A Venezuelan air force general has defected from the government of president Nicolas Maduro and urged people to join mass street protests across the country, as the president called for early parliamentary elections. Francisco Yanez, who is believed to be the highest ranking officer to desert the president, claimed in a video posted on social media that 90 per cent of the armed forces “are not with the dictator”. “The transition to democracy is imminent,” he added, referring to opposition leader Juan Guaido as his president.
