Juan Guaido, Venezuela’s constitutionally legitimate president, was attacked as he returned Venezuela on Monday after weeks of foreign travel. Pretender President Nicolas Maduro thus signaled his coming escalation.

Footage of yesterday’s events shows a mob melee between Guaido’s supporters and opponents. At first glance, the incident seems like a simple meeting of diverging passions. But there was a method to this madness — and Maduro is at the center of it.