This article is from the source 'rtcom' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.rt.com/news/450590-uk-spain-france-guaido-president/
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Chorus of EU states, incl UK, Spain, Austria recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s interim leader | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The UK, France, and Spain among a number of countries, have announced their recognition of Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president after Caracas did not cave into an ultimatum calling for elections with eight days. | |
| “Nicolas Maduro has not called Presidential elections within 8 day limit we have set. So UK alongside European allies now recognises @jguaido as interim constitutional president until credible elections can be held,” UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote in a tweet on Monday. | “Nicolas Maduro has not called Presidential elections within 8 day limit we have set. So UK alongside European allies now recognises @jguaido as interim constitutional president until credible elections can be held,” UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote in a tweet on Monday. |
| Germany, France, and Spain issued nearly identical warnings in late January, stating that they would recognize Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela unless new elections were held. The date for this to happen expired overnight, from February 3 to February 4. | |
| In a tweet announcing Austria’s support for Guaido, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz claimed that President Nicolas Maduro has “so far refused to accept a free and fair presidential election” – leading Vienna to accept Guaido as Venezuela’s “lawful” leader. Sweden has done the same. | In a tweet announcing Austria’s support for Guaido, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz claimed that President Nicolas Maduro has “so far refused to accept a free and fair presidential election” – leading Vienna to accept Guaido as Venezuela’s “lawful” leader. Sweden has done the same. |
| Maduro described the demand put forward by the European states as “the stuff of the empire, of colonial times.” | Maduro described the demand put forward by the European states as “the stuff of the empire, of colonial times.” |
| Efforts to provide Guaido with an official EU endorsement have apparently fallen flat, however. A source inside Italy’s Five Star Movement told RT that Rome shot down an EU statement meant to recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. | Efforts to provide Guaido with an official EU endorsement have apparently fallen flat, however. A source inside Italy’s Five Star Movement told RT that Rome shot down an EU statement meant to recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. |
| While Europe alleges that Maduro has stonewalled democratic elections, critics of the West’s enthusiasm for ‘regime change’ in Venezuela have pointed out that foreign states should have offered talks rather than meddling in the country. | |
| On Sunday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu noted that “there is a spark that can turn into a fire at any moment” in Venezuela. The political crisis, Cavusoglu insisted, could only be resolved “through dialogue.” Without getting into specifics, the Turkish diplomat said that the crisis had been “fueled from the outside” – an act of foreign meddling that has “punished” the Venezuelan people. | |
| In January, the US anointed Guaido as the legitimate head of Venezuela. Russia, Mexico and Turkey – among other nations – denounced the move, pledging support to “legitimate” leader Maduro government and calling for dialogue to resolve the tense political standoff. | |
| Subscribe to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won’t tell you. |