Maduro foe Guaido claims Venezuela presidency
WASHINGTON’S MAN Juan Guaido, the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly who is backed by US President Donald Trump, declares himself acting president during a massive protest rally on Wednesday in Caracas against embattled socialist leader Nicolas Maduro. —AP
CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela’s crisis quickly escalated on Wednesday as an opposition leader backed by the Trump administration declared himself interim president in a direct challenge to embattled socialist Nicolas Maduro, who retaliated by breaking off relations with the United States, his country’s biggest trade partner.
For the past two weeks, ever since Maduro took the oath for a second six-year term in the face of widespread international condemnation, the newly invigorated opposition had been preparing for nationwide demonstrations coinciding with the anniversary marking the end of Venezuela’s last military dictatorship in 1958.
While Maduro has shown no signs of leaving, his main rival, National Assembly President Juan Guaido, upped the ante by declaring himself interim president before masses of antigovernment demonstrators—the only way, he said, to rescue Venezuela from “dictatorship.”
Outside the capital, seven demonstrators were killed amid disturbances during protests that rocked several cities.
In a seemingly coordinated action, the United States led a chorus of Western hemisphere nations, including Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia, that immediately recognized Guaido, with President Donald Trump calling on Maduro to resign and promising to use the “full weight” of the US economic and diplomatic power to push for the restoration of Venezuela’s democracy.
Cuba, however, sprang to the defense of its socialist ally, expressing “solidarity” with Maduro, while Mexico extended lukewarm support to him.
“The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime and demanded freedom and the rule of law,” Trump said in a statement.
The stunning move, which to some harkened back to dark episodes of heavy-handed US interventions in Latin America during the Cold War, drew a sharp rebuke from Maduro. He responded by swiftly cutting off diplomatic relations with the United States, the biggest importer of the Opec nation’s oil, giving American diplomats 72 hours to leave the country.
‘Don’t trust gringos’
“Before the people and nations of the world, and as constitutional president … I’ve decided to break diplomatic and political relations with the imperialist US government,” Maduro thundered while holding up a decree banning the diplomats before a crowd of red-shirted supporters gathered at the presidential palace.
“Don’t trust the gringos,” he said, rattling off a long list of US-backed military coups in Guatemala, Chile and Brazil in decades past. “They don’t have friends or loyalties. They only have interests, guts and the ambition to take Venezuela’s oil, gas and gold.”
Not to be undone, Guaido issued his own statement, urging foreign embassies to disavow Maduro’s orders and keep their diplomats in the country.
A few hours later, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would conduct its diplomatic relations with Venezuela through “the government of interim President Guaido” and ignore Maduro’s order to withdraw its diplomats.
Pompeo said the United States would take “appropriate actions” against anyone who endangered the safety of US personnel.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said on Wednesday that the armed forces did not recognize a self-proclaimed president “imposed by shadowy interests … outside the law.”
Military top brass indicated their continued support for Maduro in tweets.
Virtually unknown
The 35-year-old Guaido, a virtually unknown lawmaker at the start of the year, has reignited the hopes of Venezuela’s often beleaguered opposition by taking a rebellious tack amid a crushing economic crisis that has forced millions to flee or go hungry.
Raising his right hand in unison with tens of thousands of supporters, the fresh-faced leader of the opposition-controlled congress took a symbolic oath to assume executive powers he says are his right under two articles of Venezuela constitution to take over as interim president and form a transitional government until he calls new elections.
“Today, Jan. 23, 2019, I swear to formally assume the powers of the national executive as president in charge of Venezuela,” he told the cheering crowd as he stood behind a lectern emblazoned with Venezuela’s national coat of arms.
“We know that this will have consequences,” he shouted, moments before quickly slipping away to an unknown location amid speculation he would soon be arrested.
The price of oil slipped for the third time in four days on Wednesday, an indication that international energy markets are not overly concerned yet that the situation in Venezuela, America’s third top oil supplier and owner of Houston-based Citgo, will disrupt global crude supplies.
The assault on Maduro’s rule came after large crowds gathered in Caracas, waving flags and chanting “Get out Maduro!” in what was the largest demonstration since a wave of unrest that left more than 120 dead in 2017. —REPORTS FROM AP AND AFP
