Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro broke off diplomatic ties with the US after President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that his government had recognised the country's opposition leader as the interim president. Mass protests against the regime of Maduro have continued since Monday and violence has left at least 13 people dead.
Trump's announcement recognising Juan Guaido, head of the country's legislature, as interim president was immediately followed by similar announcements by regional powers such as Brazil, Colombia and Canada. Speaking at a mass rally attended by hundreds of thousands of supporters in the east of Caracas, Guaido promised to create a transitional government with the intention of preventing Venezuela's hyper-inflationary economic collapse and hold elections.
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted about his government's decision recognising Guaido as interim president of Venezuela and praised his plan to hold elections. Trump noted, “The citizens of Venezuela have suffered for too long at the hands of the illegitimate Maduro regime.”
Reacting to the developments, Maduro gave a televised address to the nation, accusing the opposition of seeking to stage a coup with US support. Maduro had assumed office in 2013 and won bitterly contested elections in 2018, which the US and EU described as a sham.
Maduro's government has steadily lost popularity on account of the worsening economic situation in Venezuela as welfare programmes fuelled by oil production have spluttered.
On Monday, a video went viral on social media showing a group of soldiers in Caracas calling on people to take to the streets against Maduro. Violence erupted in Caracas, Barinas, Portuguesa, Amazona and Bolivar as the opposition carried out massive rallies. In Bolivar, a statue of Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez was toppled.
(With agency inputs)