UPDATE 1-Venezuela opposition pushes to re-elect Guaido as congress chief

Venezuela's congress will vote for new leadership on Sunday with the opposition party hoping to re-elect Juan Guaido, who has been recognized by more than 50 nations as the country's legitimate president. Guaido, facing a heavy pressure campaign by the government of President Nicolas Maduro, has accused the ruling Socialist Party of offering legislators suitcases of cash to vote against his second term as the head of the National Assembly.

A victory for Guaido would allow the opposition to continue pressuring for the exit of Maduro, who has become a pariah among Western nations for undermining democracy and overseeing a spectacular economic collapse of a once prosperous nation. "Today the National Assembly will ratify @jguaido as president," wrote opposition legislator Stalin Gonzalez via Twitter. "And for those who sold their souls for a few dollars, let me tell you that you've been swindled."

Maduro calls Guaido a puppet of the United States and says the country's economic problems are the result of Washington's sanctions program that restricts U.S. companies from buying the OPEC nation's oil exports or doing business with the government. He has hung on to power despite low approval ratings and a year-long effort by the Trump administration to force him from power.

Police in riot gear on Sunday morning were posted in the area around Congress, impeding lawmakers' access as they slowly checked the credentials of each one - including Guaido himself. "We will not let them block a single legislator from getting into the legislative palace," said Guaido, who stood with other lawmakers at a checkpoint of dozens of police officers who had barricaded the avenue leading to congress.

Officials with the information ministry, which has no official role in congressional activities, blocked reporters' access to the session - ordering them instead to watch a televised broadcast of it from a nearby municipal office. Reporters from state-run media were allowed in.

The opposition says that about 30 opposition legislators are in exile or in hiding due to judicial proceedings, most of which are associated a failed military uprising against Maduro's government in April. The government in December approved legal proceedings against four opposition lawmakers accused of treason and conspiracy.

Opposition party Popular Will in December said a special forces police detained lawmaker Gilber Caro and one of his assistants in Caracas. Last month, the legislature changed its internal procedures to allow lawmakers to vote virtually in efforts to allow the participation of those who cannot be physically present. (Writing by Brian Ellsworth; editing by Diane Craft)