BRITAIN and other European powers announced yesterday they are recognising Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president.
The move follows the failure of the embattled incumbent Nicolas Maduro to call new presidential elections, as demanded by the Europeans and other countries. Spain, Germany, France, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and Lithuania all joined in recognising Guaido, who proclaimed himself interim president on January 23.
Maduro, however, showed no signs of bowing to the pressure, warning he could not rule out civil war if the protests against his regime continued.
He said in an interview with Spanish television broadcast late on Sunday: “I don’t accept ultimatums from anybody. Why should the EU be giving ultimatums to a country?”
UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the people of Venezuela had suffered enough and it was time for a “new start”, with free and fair elections.
He said in a statement: “The United Kingdom now recognises Juan Guaido
as the constitutional interim president of Venezuela, until credible presidential elections can be held. The oppression of the illegitimate, kleptocratic Maduro regime must end. Those who continue to violate the human rights of ordinary Venezuelans under an illegitimate regime will be called to account.”
The United States and a number of Latin American countries have already recognised Guaido,. However Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a long-standing admirer of Maduro’s socialist predecessor Hugo Chavez, has strongly condemned outside interference in Venezuela “whether from the US or anywhere else”.
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