Venezuela strongly rejects EU backing for Guaido, promises to ‘revise relations’ with bloc
The Venezuelan government has emphatically rejected EU member states’ decision to back opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president, saying Caracas will now revise its relationship with these countries.
Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza accused the EU of officially submitting to the US strategy to overthrow the Venezuelan government.
The statement, which expressed the “most energetic rejection” to the EU states’ decision, added that the Venezuelan government will now revise its bilateral relations with EU countries who have recognized Guaido as the legitimate interim president.
La República Bolivariana de Venezuela expresa su más enérgico rechazo a la decisión de algunos gobiernos de Europa, en la que se pliegan oficialmente a la estrategia de la administración estadounidense de derrocar al Gobierno. Una vez más se colocan en a la cola de Washington pic.twitter.com/NuM6HNr0tX
— Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) February 4, 2019
The announcement from Caracas comes as the Netherlands joined Germany, the UK, France, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, and Denmark in recognizing Guaido after earlier calling on the constitutionally-elected President Nicolas Maduro to run fresh elections – a request he denied.
However, not all in the EU have offered resounding support for the National Assembly leader. On Monday, Italy reportedly blocked an EU statement recognizing Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.
Also on rt.com Italy vetoed EU recognition of Venezuelan opposition leader Guaido – M5S source to RTIreland has also proposed a more cautious approach towards Guaido, instead lending support to fresh elections.
“We want to see free and fair elections for the people to make a democratic decision in Venezuela,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said.
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