Self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela Juan Guaido has refused to rule out accepting US military support amid the escalating political crisis, but said he hopes it does not come to that.
According to a CNN article posted on Thursday, Guaido said that the Venezuelan people want to end President Nicolas Maduro’s rule with “whatever pressure is necessary.”
“Here in Venezuela we are doing everything we can to put pressure, so that we don’t have to come to a scenario that no one would wish to have,” he said when asked whether he is willing to accept military support from the United States.
“We are trying to restore the sovereignty of this country, to restore the liberty and democracy of Venezuela,” he added.
According to the report, Guaido has invoked an obscure constitutional rule to open a rare challenge to Nicolas Maduro’s claim to the presidency and last week declared himself acting president.
CNN reports that Guaido said he has had no talks with Maduro. It had been earlier reported that Maduro was willing to engage Guaido in talks.
Guaido told CNN that he has been in talks with members of the military, but did not present a clear plan of how he would get them to withdraw their support from Maduro.
“We’re asking that the armed forces [be] on the side of the constitution which is very different from it being a coup here in Venezuela,” Guaido reportedly told CNN, rebutting Maduro’s accusation that the US was orchestrating a military coup in the country.
Although Maduro was re-elected to a six-year term last year, and he asserted the elections were fair, international observers have questioned their legitimacy.
“Guaido has promised a transitional government and free elections to end the rule of the socialist Maduro regime, which has overseen the once-wealthy oil nation’s descent into economic collapse and a humanitarian crisis,” said the article
