By Vivian Sequera and Mircely Guanipa CARACAS/MARACAY (Reuters) -Venezuelan opposition parties and their supporters - including leader Maria Corina Machado, who had been in hiding - protested around the country on Thursday in an eleventh-hour effort to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro,

If you need one word to describe Venezuela these days, it would be fearful.” That’s what one Latin American diplomat told CNN this week, reflecting on the strange atmosphere in the country.

Tensions have been growing in Venezuela ahead of Thursday's rallies in which opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has promised to end months of hiding to meet her supporters on the street. (AP/ Andr