[Coren:] Welcome back to NEWS STREAM. Venezuela's opposition leader is admitting this week's protests haven't had enough military defectors to topple President Nicolas Maduro from power, but Juan Guaido is urging his supporters to protest for a third day and government employees to strike. Wednesday's demonstrations led to the arrests of 168 people according to Human Rights Watch. One of the group's officials said there are credible reports that Security Forces had fired shotgun pellets at demonstrators and journalists. Our CNN crews saw what appeared to be shotgun shells lying in the streets of Caracas after a protest, but it is unclear how old they were. President Maduro says he'll never surrender to traitors. CNN Senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh joins us now from Caracas. Nick, as we know, Guaido jumped the gun. He overestimated his support, but so too did the United States, his number one backer with its Intelligence. How did they get it so wrong?
[Nick Paton Walsh, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] It's always difficult to tell really exactly why the U.S. thinks it will achieve by banging the drum so loud outside of Venezuela. I think they believe they put enough wind in the wings of Juan Guaido, the opposition leader who declared himself Interim President and was recognized by dozens of countries around the world. But it hasn't translated to the sea change they wanted on the ground, maybe people thought early Tuesday morning when he appeared, Juan Guaido with the military next to him and said that, "Today was the day," that maybe that was the start of something new. Sadly for him, on Juan Guaido, that didn't turn out to be the case. One thing that has perhaps happened and not received as much attention is one of the key members of Nicolas Maduro's security apparatus, Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, who is the head of the Venezuelan National Intelligence Service, he left his job on that same day, the highest profile key security apparatus figure to leave Maduro since the beginning of this crisis, and he released an open letter getting a lot of discussion. Let me read a quote for you here from it. He says, "You cannot live in misery in a country so rich, this generation that is in childhood will grow up with the flaws that bad food producers, and that damage is irreversible." Echoing I think how many Venezuelans feel about the current man-made humanitarian crisis they're dealing with. As you mentioned, Anna, today is about trying to get opposition protesters back on the streets for the third day in a row. I have to say behind me here in central Caracas is business as usual. Maybe that will change as the day goes on. It doesn't reflect the poverty, the rolling blackouts and food shortages across the rest of rural Venezuela and its other towns and cities. Nicolas Maduro appearing on television marching with his Armed Forces trying to show they're still with him. It was clear on Tuesday, not as many as he thought. But as Juan Guaido admitted, not as many are with him as they would necessarily need to change the balance here. Is this continued U.S. pressure from outside and these defections going to change matters? We will have to see. Today is key really, if we don't see some sort of change on the streets, we're going to be looking really at another flare of activity from the opposition, followed by what often has been in the past weeks of them kind of gathering themselves back together again Anna.
[Coren:] Yes, I know you've been covering this story over the past three months from time to time, but what is it going to take for the military to switch sides considering that much of the top brass have profited from corruption and mismanagement of the country's natural resources and wealth?
[Paton Walsh:] The difficulty is as the screw tightens on Venezuela in terms of sanctions and its economic collapse that has two impacts. The economic collapse means the rank-and-file in the military are more likely to change sides simply for the benefit of their families and daily life here. But the turning of the screw of the sanctions, particularly against senior figures here means that their fate is kind of sealed if they leave Maduro's inner circle. Outside of Venezuela, some of them will potentially face indictment by the United States, they are certainly target of sanctions so and Anna, God knows what might happen if Juan Guaido did take power here, what he might do to members of the military. He has suggested an amnesty might be in place. So those senior figures will feel increasingly their backs are against the wall. But it didn't stop the head of Venezuela's National Intelligence for making that very public statement that he did. And this is the massive question really behind this kind of velvet curtain, if you like of Maduro's government here, what is happening in those rooms? Did what happened on Tuesday morning make people in the military think there are more with Guaido than we previously imagined? Those scenes frankly, shocked me. I hadn't expected to see Venezuelan military having teargas fired on them by their own Venezuelan military colleagues. That
[Coren:] Yes, you mentioned that humanitarian crisis and the majority of the 32 million Venezuelans certainly have lived a wretched existence for most of the past six years. Nick Paton Walsh, great to have you on the ground there in Caracas. Many thanks for your reporting. Well, India is bracing for what could be its strongest tropical cyclone in years. One hundred million people on the country's East Coast, they are preparing for Tropical Cyclone Fani, which is expected to bring storm surges, wind damage and inland flooding. Evacuations have already started. Well, meteorologist, Chad Myers is tracking the storm. Chad, how destructive are you expecting this storm will be?
[Chad Myers, Cnn Meteorologist:] You know, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center right now, Anna has it at 215 kilometers per hour, and I think that's a way underestimate of what happened now in the past three hours because that last update was three hours ago. So we are waiting now for what just happened which is now a clearly defined eye, a Dvorak satellite number significantly higher than 215. So what that means is seven to nine meters worth of storm surge. That's going to mean wind gust of 250 kilometers per hour. That's going to mean lots of rainfall damage and destruction along its path. Now, when it makes landfall in 24 hours, maybe a little bit less, it will be down to about 195, but still the surge with this storm is going to be tremendous, so everyone near the shore is going to need to get away. Water's power is just too strong when it is that high to stay here and if you're in the area around Puri, this is the area that is going to see the center of the eyewall. Now, obviously, left and right, 200 kilometers, you're still going to see winds over probably 100 kilometers per hour and that is still going to do significant damage here. It will get very close to Calcutta. This is the area here that has 14 million people in the way of wind at least 120 kilometers per hour and significant rainfall. It's that red area there that you saw, that is the area of the highest population density. Now, Puri down here, you're still looking at 1.5 million people in the way of the eyewall, so that's another thing we're worried about obviously here and then when it gets up towards Bangladesh, we are talking about significant rainfall accumulations. It could be 250 millimeters of rainfall, especially in the higher elevations and that will have to run downhill. That's what we're worried about. This is the strongest when it is going to make landfall, equivalent to a Category 3 almost Category 4 right now and the last one would have been 2014. So we're talking five years ago compared to the strongest storm here. I am going to zoom this in because I simply can and I think it's so very impressive to see what has happened over the past about six hours. From an eye you truly couldn't see to now one you could actually see the sky through, you could see the sunshine through the clouds in the eye if you were there and you certainly wouldn't want to be. An impressive storm still getting stronger and the people there are battening down because this is going to be a devastating storm for tens of thousands of people in the way and we know that a hundred million people are going to be impacted at some point in some way Anna.
[Coren:] Yes, that is a frightening forecast. We know that that storm is heading for some very poor areas with very poor infrastructure. Chad Myers, thank you for keeping an eye on that for us. Well, you're watching NEWS STREAM. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are bucking tradition in keeping details of the Royal birth close to home. The secrecy surrounding Baby Sussex, that's coming up.