PHOTO: Reuters
Since President Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in for a second term two weeks earlier, countries around the world are starting to take sides on who is leading the country: President Nicolas Maduro or opposition leader Juan Guaido.
Many, including Guaido, said that Maduro won by illegitimate means in an election where major opposition parties were barred from participating.
After days of violent protests against Maduro, Guaido declared himself Venezuela’s interim president on Wednesday, January 23. Juan Guaido claims that according to the constitution, he, as the head of the National Assembly, is now the rightful, albeit temporary, president of the country.
U.S. President Trump said on the same day that the United States recognized Juan Guaido as the country’s leader and called socialist Maduro’s government ‘illegitimate’. 11 other South American countries and the EU followed this stance.
In response, Maduro said he was breaking diplomatic relations with the U.S., giving U.S. embassy personnel 72 hours to evacuate the area.
On Thursday, Russia warned the U.S. against military intervention in Venezuela. Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Washington’s public recognition of Guaido constituted “direct interference in [Venezuela’s] internal affairs”, adding that “people of Venezuela need to be supported by developing cooperation…a blockade is not that solution”.
Bolivia, Cuba, and Venezuela’s top military leaders also issued statements supporting Maduro on Thursday, delivering vows of loyalty before rows of green-uniformed officers on state television.
BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
