© REUTERS/CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS
Juan Guaido, President of Venezuela's National Assembly, gestures to supporters.
The UK government, led by Prime Minister Theresa May has come out in support of Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido as the head of the democratically elected National Assembly, in response to the attempted coup.
A spokesperson for the prime minister said that the 2018 presidential poll was neither free nor fair, stating that the UK fully backed Guaido, Reuters reports. May's spokesperson said:
"The 2018 presidential election in Venezuela was neither free nor fair, so the regime's basis for power is deeply flawed. We fully support the democratically elected National Assembly with Juan Guaido as its president. In relation to the US, we think it is totally unacceptable for Venezuela to cut off diplomatic ties. The solution to this crisis lies in working to find a peaceful and diplomatic solution, not in expulsions."
On Wednesday Guaido declared himself acting president after calls for a regime change from Washington. Both he and President Nicolas Maduro, who was sworn in for his second term earlier in January, have many supporters in the country, which is now apparently balancing on the brink of total chaos.
Comment: The events in Venezuela have taken a dramatic turn with countries around the world choosing sides.
UPDATE RT, 1/24/2019: Britain claims Maduro 'not legitimate leader' of Venezuela
UPDATE RT, 1/24/2019: 'So much for non-meddling': Russian FM spokeswoman slams West for 'handpicking' Venezuela govt
Recognition of the rebel president in Venezuela is a prime example of Western disrespect for international law and sovereignty, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
"The example of events in Venezuela shows clearly how the progressive Western community actually treats international law, sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs of states - by handpicking the government there," Zakharova said on Facebook.
Maduro responded [to US recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaido] by severing diplomatic ties with the US and ordering all American diplomats to leave the country within 72 hours. Venezuela's army has backed the government.
UPDATE RT, 1/24/2019: US refuses to withdraw diplomats from Venezuela after Maduro breaks ties
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has refused to pull diplomats from Caracas, arguing the government that severed diplomatic ties with the US is not legitimate and threatening 'appropriate actions' if anyone is endangered.
"We call on the Venezuelan military and security forces to continue protecting the welfare and well-being of all Venezuelan citizens, as well as US and other foreign citizens in Venezuela," Pompeo said in a statement on Wednesday evening, adding the US "will take appropriate action to hold accountable anyone who endangers the safety and security of our mission and its personnel."
Cuba and Bolivia have expressed support for Maduro, while Mexico has said it would continue to recognize Maduro's legitimacy "for now."
UPDATE RT, 1/24/2019: 'Maduro won't roll over': US-backed coup could lead to civil war
Calling the presidency of Nicolas Maduro a "disastrous dictatorship," the US State Department urged the country' "military and security forces" to revolt against the democratically elected president. While the Venezuelan army refused to violate their allegiance, according to the defense minister, the society remains divided, standing over the abyss of a possible internal conflict.
Mr. Maduro will not just roll over and accept this. The question now is: who is going to be on his side and who is going to be on Mr. Guaido's side and how ugly will things get...
"There is a great danger that this could lead to a civil war," former US diplomat Jim Jatras told RT. "If the military splits, or the police, we could have very serious violence in this country. Millions of Venezuelans rose out of poverty during the Bolivarian revolution. They are not going to accept the imposition of the US-chosen new president," Brian Becker from the anti-war ANSWER Coalition told RT, warning that if civil war erupts it will be a "bloodbath."
Venezuela's pro-Washington neighbors might be used to fuel the coup in Caracas.
"If the US is now recognizing a fake leader of Guaido, then US courts will try to expropriate the oil reserves of Citgo, the properties of Citgo, which is owned by Venezuela in the United States," La Riva told RT.
"Maduro will try to protect what he sees as a legitimate constitutional authority. There will be a confrontation. There will be violence," Jatras noted. "And I would not be at all surprised if covert assets will be used to try to raise the temperature of that violence so then Maduro can be accused of 'killing innocent peaceful protesters.' That would warrant even stronger steps taking against Venezuela."
UPDATE RT, 1/24/2019: Venezuela divide: Turkey, Russia, China stand against Washington, its Latin America allies
Russia supported Maduro as expected, saying it will continue working with his government. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned the US against trying to topple Maduro by force - a scenario that Washington has been reportedly deliberating for quite some time.
"We believe it would be disastrous and would damage the foundations of the model of development preferred in Latin America," he said. "As you know, one of the slogans, the conceptual elements of self-identification of the many closely connected nations in Latin America is unity in diversity."
China voiced support for the Maduro government's effort to overcome the instability in Venezuela. When asked whether Beijing still considered him the president of the country, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said China was among the many nations and international organizations which sent its representatives to Maduro's inauguration ceremony on January 10. "I want to emphasize that outside sanctions or interference usually make the situation more complicated and are not helpful to resolving the actual problems," she said.
Turkey criticized the US for its continued interference with Venezuela's domestic affairs. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called Guaido's self-appointment "very strange" while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced solidarity with Maduro, saying "Maduro brother, stand tall".
Iran is another nation, which sided with Maduro's government and criticized Washington for its involvement there. Tehran supports Caracas and the people of Venezuela "in the face of any foreign intervention in the country's internal affairs or any illegal or anti-popular actions, such as attempts to stage coups," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said in a statement.
But some nations in the eastern hemisphere are taking the side of the US over Venezuela. Georgia and Ukraine both declared they too were recognizing Guaido as the acting president and no longer considered Maduro the head of the country.
"Millions of Venezuelans said 'No to Maduro, no to populism'," declared Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, who himself became head of state after a US-backed armed coup in Kiev toppled the elected president of the country.
UPDATE RT, 1/24/2019: Facebook's 'verified account' tick used to interfere in Venezuela
© instagram
"It's quite surprising when such big social networks, which claim to be independent, act in this way, playing to the tune of Washington," Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the Lower Chamber in the Russian Parliament, told journalists on Thursday. He added that Facebook was serving as a tool of US foreign policy.
Facebook said the 'unverification' claim is not accurate. It did not take away the blue badge form Maduro's accounts as they were never verified in the first place, the tech giant explained in response to online outrage. Guaido got the blue tick on Instagram in November last year and recently on Facebook.
UPDATE RT, 1/24/2019: Gunshots, molotovs: Skirmishes in Caracas as Venezuela upheaval escalates
UPDATE RT: 1/24/2019: Lavrov: US interfering in Venezuela? No need to ask Mueller to determine that
Russia accused the US of hypocrisy over its instigation of a coup in Venezuela, saying such actions are in sharp contrast to the outrage which Americans express over alleged interference in their own domestic political affairs. The Russian minister said the speed of the developments on Wednesday indicated that the opposition's move was likely orchestrated by foreign actors.
Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin, said that Moscow considered Maduro the legitimate head of state in Venezuela and rejected the suggestion that Russia may extend political asylum to him.
Responding to questions from the media, Peskov said Caracas has not asked for Russia's help to deal with the political crisis. At the moment Moscow considers the situation in the country to be an internal matter and does not plan to intervene diplomatically or in any other way, he said.
UPDATE RT, 1/24/2019: Putin: Foreign interference in Venezuela's internal affairs grossly violates international law
© Reuters/Isaac Urrutia/Global Look Press/Kremlin Pool
Opposition supporters' rally • Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russia's president pledged his support for the elected government of Venezuela during a phone call with President Nicolas Maduro. He also criticized the "destructive external meddling" to which the country has been exposed.
The Russian president has expressed his support to the legitimate authorities of Venezuela in this time of political crisis which he said was caused by a "destructive external interference that grossly violates the most basic norms of the international law."
Putin and Maduro also agreed to continue cooperation between the countries "in various fields."
France and Britain joined the chorus on Thursday. London claimed that Maduro is "not a legitimate leader" of Venezuela while Paris said that Maduro's election was "illegal" and "Europe supports the restoration of democracy."
UPDATE RT, 1/24/2019: Venezuela orders closing of embassy & consulates in US
President Nicolas Maduro has ordered the closing of Venezuela's embassy and consulates in the United States, a day after severing diplomatic ties with Washington over the US recognition of an opposition leader as president.
On Wednesday, Maduro ordered all US diplomats to leave Venezuela within 72 hours. However, the self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido has countermanded that order - and the State Department announced no US diplomats would be leaving, threatening consequences if anything happened to them.
UPDATE teleSUR, 1/24/2019: Venezuela FM accuses US of open coup attempt
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza accused the United States of openly planning a coup against Venezuela. The minister denounced the U.S. for its constant interventions and threats against Nicolas Maduro who was re-elected as president with a democratic vote in 2018 with 67 percent of the vote.
"It is striking to say that the U.S. government is not behind the coup attempt in Venezuela - it is AHEAD of it, on the vanguard, without any masks, or pretense. In Washington, they openly designed and executed the plan, giving orders to their governments and satellite actors around the world," Arreaza wrote on Twitter.
UPDATE (January 26): Venezuela's defense minister Vladimir Padrino has (rightfully) accused the US of waging
economic warfare on his country in response to the White House promising funds to the pretender Guaido:
Padrino recalled a failed coup attempt by the Bush administration in 2002, saying that "those of us who lived through the coup of 2002 have it etched into our minds, we never thought we'd see that again, but we saw it yesterday."
After the legitimate Venezuelan government cut off diplomatic ties with the US, the Americans refused to accept their decision (of course claiming Guaido to be Venezuela's "legitimate" leader). But the have reportedly recalled '
non-essential' diplomats, while keeping the embassy open:
The State Department has also warned US citizens in Venezuela that they should "strongly consider" leaving the country, after Maduro said the US should pull their staff out of Caracas "if they had any sense."
Despite everything, Maduro has stated that he wishes to
continue relations with the US, aside from diplomacy and politics. He's also willing to hold talks with the opposition:
"We are not going to kill each other, the Venezuelan people," he said. "We will solve our problems without violence."
"If I have to go to talk with him (Guaidó), I am willing," Maduro said. "Hopefully sooner rather than later the opposition will get out of the way of extremism and open a sincere dialogue."
...
In his speech to the press on Friday, Maduro denounced US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's offer of $20 million in humanitarian aid to Venezuela - to be given to opposition figures - and accused Washington of orchestrating a coup to overthrow his government.
The problem is, the US does not want to negotiate. They want blood (or oil!).
Maduro also stated the intention of Venezuela's National Armed Forces to hold massive
exercises between Feb. 10 and 15 to demonstrate their ability and willingness to defend their territories:
"Our Armed Forces make our country unassailable," Maduro said, adding that the military is quite capable of standing against any aggressor that sets foot on Venezuela's soil. According to the president, the Venezuelan military has reached the "highest professional level." "We must prepare... to defend Venezuela in any scenario."
...
The army has remained loyal to the elected government, despite the reports of isolated small-scale uprisings among the lower ranks of the military.
France, Germany and Spain have all
issued identical threats to recognize Guaido:
"The statements are not simply identical but they are even made simultaneously," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, wrote on Facebook.
Earlier on Saturday, Paris, Berlin and Madrid announced their readiness to recognize the self-proclaimed "interim president" of Venezuela, Juan Guaido, unless the country holds snap presidential elections within eight days. The messages appeared to be well-coordinated indeed.
"The government of Spain gives Nicolas Maduro eight days to call free, transparent and democratic elections," Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in statement. "If that doesn't happen, Spain will recognize Juan Guaido as interim president in charge of calling these elections."
The ultimatum was almost instantly echoed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who took to Twitter issuing a similar threat in French and Spanish - to get the message through, apparently.
"The Venezuelan people must be able to freely decide their future. Without elections announced in 8 days, we could recognize [Guaido] as 'interim president' of Venezuela to launch this political process," Macron said, adding that he was working with "European partners."
Exactly the same message was posted on Twitter by the deputy spokeswoman of the German government. Later in the day, the European chorus was joined by the UK, with its Foreign Ministry voicing the ultimatum again.
Ron Paul shared his views on the attempted coup with RT:
Supporting a coup in Venezuela in the name of promoting democracy is rather ironic, former Congressman Ron Paul told RT, pointing out the glaring hypocrisy of enforcing "American values" at gunpoint.
"Where do we get the moral authority to be the decider?" the Ron Paul Institute founder asked. "I think it's rather ironic for our government to say they want to take care of Venezuela... by having a coup and threatening them with military violence because they're not democratic enough!"
American intervention in Venezuela's affairs is not only hypocritical, but "unwise, very dangerous, it will be costly, it's against our rules, and if they pretend that we have to go in because we want to spread American values, those aren't my values!" Paul exclaimed, pointing out that the US criticizes other countries for alleged 'meddling' but "when we do it, it's right and proper and almost holy."
Warning that Maduro will not roll over and relinquish power without a fight - and that the other Western countries lining up behind self-appointed President Juan Guaidó are probably only doing so to avoid economic retaliation from Washington - Paul lamented the Trump administration's inability to learn from history.
"Have a look at US foreign policy of the last 10 years!" Paul implored, begging the US to at least learn from the lessons of the 'war on terror'. "There's nothing like foreign occupation that unifies the people."
"I'm sure there's some harm done by Maduro and others," Paul said, adding that he's a harsh critic of Venezuela's socialism, which "usually leads to impoverishment" - but it's not "our job" to carry out "unnecessary interventions."
See also:
Comment: Israel is rapidly exhausting even Russia's patience. Will the day come when Putin may say enough, and take the restraints off Assad. One hopes that day will not come.