Tear gas fired on highway near Caracas air base where opposition leader Guaidó has appeared with soldiers

Tear gas has reportedly been fired following a video released by US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, in which he called for a full-scale military uprising against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro’s spokesman has confirmed that a coup is underway in Venezuela, while the country’s defense minister said: “We reject this coup movement that aims to fill the country with violence.”

Footage shared online shows tear-gas canisters being fired near the Generalisimo Francisco de Miranda, or ‘La Carlota’, air force base. One witness told Reuters that the gas is being fired towards Guaido, who appears to have gathered about 70 men in military uniform.

Guaido, the self-declared interim president, released a video on Tuesday morning appealing to the Venezuelan military to take part in a coup. The footage was apparently shot at a Caracas airbase and followed an earlier tweet from Guaido, in which he claimed to be meeting with “key military units” for what he described as “the beginning of the final phase of Operation Freedom.”