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Vice
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro remained defiant Wednesday, despite a domestic political challenge to his leadership, and the denunciation of his \u201cillegitimate\u201d regime by the United States.
\u201cWe've had enough interventionism, here we have dignity, damn it!\u201d Maduro said in a televised address from the presidential palace, blasting the White House.
Maduro announced that he was cutting all diplomatic ties with Washington, and told U.S. diplomats they had 72 hours to leave the country.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hit back, stating that Maduro no longer had the authority to make such a decision, while Trump told reporters that U.S. military intervention remained an option.
Maduro\u2019s speech came hours after 35-year-old Venezuelan politician Juan Guaid\xf3 declared himself interim president.
Guaid\xf3 is leader of Venezuela\u2019s opposition-controlled National Assembly, which Maduro stripped of its powers in 2015.
Addressing hundreds of thousands of protestors in Caracas, Guaid\xf3 declared: \u201cI swear to formally assume the national executive powers as acting president.\u201d
Maduro\u2019s many opponents inside and outside Venezuela now hope that Guaid\xf3 \u2014 who was unknown outside the country before Wednesday \u2014 will unite the opposition and end Maduro\u2019s stranglehold on power.
After several days of protests in Caracas \u2014 which left at least 14 dead and dozens arrested \u2014 Guaid\xf3 made his move Wednesday afternoon. Hours later Trump weighed in by declaring that the U.S. was backing the new claim and no longer consider Maduro the president of Venezuela.
Guaid\xf3 said protests would continue until "until Venezuela is liberated" and fair elections could be held.
But Maduro showed no sign of stepping down, telling the country that \u201cno one here is surrendering.\u201d Despite the internal and external opposition, Maduro, for now, commands the support of the military and much of the country\u2019s major institutions.
Guaid\xf3 was a low-profile politician in Venezuela until his surprise election as leader of the opposition-held National Assembly three weeks ago.
He was reportedly drawn to politics after the government\u2019s ineffective response to flash floods in the port city of La Guaira, Guaid\xf3\u2019s home town. The floods killed tens of thousands of people.
Along with the U.S. and Canada, most of Venezuela\u2019s neighbors support Guaid\xf3 claim, including Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina and Paraguay.
The EU said the voice of the Venezuelan people \u201ccannot be ignored\u201d and called for \u201cfree and credible elections.\u201d
European Council President Donald Tusk added that Guaid\xf3 \u201chas a democratic mandate from the people.\u201d
Even Instagram \u2014 which was temporarily blocked along with Twitter and YouTube in recent days \u2014 appeared to pick a side, switching its verified symbol from Maduro to Guaid\xf3.
But Maduro still has some international support.
Russia, a major Venezuelan ally, said it considers the attempted removal of Maduro from office to be illegal. \u201cI do not think that we can recognize this \u2014 it is, in essence, a coup,\u201d Vladimir Dzhabrailov, a Russia lawmaker and member of the foreign affairs committee, said.
Maduro has also received a call from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, offering his support. \u201cOur president extended Turkey\u2019s support to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and said \u2018My brother Maduro! Stand tall, we stand by you!\u2019,\u201d Erdogan\u2019s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Twitter.
Mexico, Iran, Cuba and Uruguay continue to recognize Maduro\u2019s presidency.
China, which has given Venezuela $62 billion worth of loans over the last decade, said it \u201copposes external intervention in Venezuela.\u201d
The oil-rich nation has suffered years of economic mismanagement under Maduro, and was hit hard by the 2014 collapse of oil prices. This has led to hyperinflation, power cuts and shortages of food and medicine, all of which has driven millions of Venezuelans out of the country.
The Venezuelan opposition, while united in its hatred of Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Ch\xe1vez, has long been undone by its own divisions and inability to put forth a concrete political program.
Maduro and his party have been able to secure control of all levels of government in part because the opposition for years has boycotted elections \u2014 and because the government has exiled or imprisoned most of the opposition\u2019s viable leaders.
UN chief Ant\xf3nio Guterres appealed Thursday for dialogue, hoping to \u201cavoid an escalation that would lead to the kind of conflict that would be a disaster for the people of Venezuela and for the region.\u201d
But many fear that the U.S. threat to use force could lead to just such an escalation.
\u201cThe threat of military action that the administration has wielded is incredibly unhelpful,\u201d Jacob Parakilas, deputy head of the U.S. and the Americas Program at London-based think tank Chatham House, told VICE News. \u201cOn balance I think the threat of military action is so unhelpful as to outweigh any positive impact from the diplomatic offensive against Maduro.\u201d
Venezuela is already one the most violent countries in the world, and it is in a region \u2014 wedged between the similarly violent Brazil and Colombia \u2014 that could explode at any moment.
\u201cColombia, in particular, is trying to cement a very fragile peace after a decades-long civil war that was armed to the teeth by billions of dollars in US military aid and drug money, with the ELN still operating along Venezuela\u2019s porous western border. It\u2019s a tinderbox, and intervention could be a huge spark,\u201d Asa Cusack, a researcher from the Latin America and Caribbean Centre at the London School of Economics, told VICE News.