Maduro breaks ties with U.S as President sides with Opposition

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday (today) said he was severing diplomatic and political ties with the United States shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump formally recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela.

The Venezuelan opposition leader declared himself interim president at a Caracas rally just hours before Maduro held a rival gathering from the presidential palace that was broadcast on state television.

The move by the U.S. administration was swiftly followed by similar statements from Canada and a slew of right-leaning Latin American governments, including Venezuela’s neighbours Brazil and Colombia.

At a rally that brought hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans into the east of Caracas, Guaido said Maduro had usurped power and promised to create a transitional government that would help the country escape its hyperinflationary economic collapse.

Guaido’s declaration takes Venezuela into uncharted territory, with the possibility of the opposition now running a parallel government recognised abroad as legitimate but without control over state functions.

In his televised speech, Maduro accused the opposition of seeking to stage a coup with the support of the United States, which he said was seeking to govern Venezuela from Washington.