Allies of the United States are said to be increasingly regretting their decision to follow the U.S. lead in recognising Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela.
Guaidó, who had his parliamentary immunity revoked by The National Constituent Assembly (ANC) of Venezuela on Tuesday, is no nearer power than he was at the beginning of the attempted coup and despite threats from American President Donald Trump, military intervention is becoming increasingly unlikely following Russian intervention and cold feet from Colombia and Brazil.
As the situation for Guaidó becomes ever more desperate, the “opposition leader” has upped his rhetoric against Nicolás Maduro and Venezuela, with some suggesting he has called for American intervention at a rally in Los Teques, near Caracas.
“Of course, we will refer to 187. We did not speak here between the lines, here we spoke very clearly.”
“187” in this instance refers to article 187.11 of the Venezuelan constitution regulating authorization for a foreign military mission within the country.
Both China and Russia have rejected demands from the United States to “get out” of Venezuela, with both Russia and China sending aid to the country, the Chinese saying that “Latin America does not belong to any country, nor is it the backyard of a state.”
Meanwhile, the United States Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrahams, perhaps better known for his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal, threatened that “We have options, and it would be a mistake for the Russians to think they have a free hand.”
In another sign of waning U.S. influence, however, Russia has ignored this rhetoric from Washington and opened a new helicopter training facility in Venezuela, also sending teams the repair Soviet-era S300 defensive missile systems, which were knocked out by a series of blackouts.
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