Pompeo, Guaido Pledge to Redouble Efforts to Oust Maduro

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US Secretary Mike Pompeo and self-declared interim Venezuela President Juan Guaido pledged to redouble their efforts to oust President Nicolas Maduro by installing a transitional government, the State Department said in a readout of the conversation on Thursday.

The two officials conferred on ways democratic actors and international partners can together open the path to a transitional government responsible for overseeing free and fair presidential and National Assembly elections, the readout added.

In his State of the Union address on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump welcomed Guaido, who was also invited to Capitol Hill, as “the only legitimate president of Venezuela”. He also vowed to “smash and break” the “tyranny” in the Latin American country.

Guaido illegally proclaimed himself interim president of Venezuela back in January 2019, after disputing the results of the May 2018 election in which Nicolas Maduro had won. Guaido was endorsed by the United States and its allies in Latin America.

Maduro has called Guaido a US puppet trying to orchestrate a coup in Venezuela with the help of the United States so that Washington could gain control of Venezuela’s natural resources, namely its vast oil assets.

The US has repeatedly claimed Venezuela under Maduro is a “dictatorship” where the citizens “suffer repression”, promising to return democracy to the country. Washington has also introduced a series of economic sanctions against Caracas.

A number of countries, including Russia, China, Cuba, and Turkey, have rejected Guaido’s claims to the presidency and continue to recognise Maduro as the only legitimate president of Venezuela.

Sourse: sputniknews.com