Maduro defies Trump with vow to resist intervention

Bloomberg

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said “we’re getting ready to defend our country” as the US presses him to cede power.
While President Donald Trump signaled he’s confident a transition of power to opposition leader Juan Guaido is under way and said the use of US military force in Venezuela remains “an option,” Maduro went on Spanish television to denounce foreign meddling.
“Nobody in the world can come and disavow our constitution and our institutions and try and impose ultimatums,” Maduro told broadcaster La Sexta, referring to attempts by Spain and other European Union countries to set a deadline for an early presidential election. Venezuela’s armed forces and civilian militias are preparing for an invasion, he said.
The allegiances of the military, Venezuela’s most powerful institution, may determine the outcome of the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido, who lawmakers named interim president in January. The US and two dozen other countries recognize Guaido as the country’s rightful leader and are pressuring the ruling socialists to give up power.

Trump vs. Maduro
In an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Trump said he isn’t inclined to negotiate with Maduro to persuade him to leave. “I think the process is playing out” as Venezuelans take to the streets to protest, he said.
“If you talk about democracy, it’s really democracy in action,” Trump said. That pressure may be changing the dynamic in Venezuela. No one was hurt and there were only three arrests, despite thousands of opposing demonstrators protesting near each other. In 2014 and 2017, Venezuelan security forces cracked down on protesters. Even this January, almost 1,000 people were arrested as tensions brewed to the point that Guaido was named as Maduro’s interim successor, and Maduro forces have carried out raids, some deadly, in Caracas’s slums.
Maduro may fear that any crackdown would be counterproductive or begin a spiraling backlash. He appears to be avoiding a situation that would force the military to choose sides, especially under so much international pressure.
“One of the reasons is that military and security forces don’t want to risk to detain people, given the great scrutiny from the international community, especially from high-ranking US officials,” said Mariano de Alba, a Venezuelan political analyst.

France, UK recognise Guaido
Bloomberg

The UK, Spain, France and Austria recognized Venezuelan National Assembly leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president on Monday, joining an international push led by the US censuring Nicolas Maduro and calling for new elections.
Germany joined France, Spain and the UK on January 26, saying they would recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s leader in the event Maduro refused to call elections within eight days. The European Union failed to unify jointly behind a drive to support Guaido within this specific timeframe when countries including Italy vetoed a push to make that the position of the whole bloc.
The political crisis in oil-rich Venezuela has provoked a worldwide split, with a US-led group of countries that have already recognized Guaido as interim president pitted against nations such as Russia and China that support Maduro.