The United States must avoid intervening militarily in Venezuela to resolve the crisis in that country, former US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) head retired Adm. James Stavridis said on Wednesday.
“The United States should not engage militarily in the situation under the circumstances I see now,” Stavridis said at a conference on the US-Turkey defense cooperation and the NATO alliance in Washington, DC.
In the meantime, Maduro accused Trump of ordering Colombian mafia to assassinate him.
The UK, Germany, France, and Spain declared on 26 January their intention to recognise Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president if Caracas does not announce snap presidential elections within eight days.In turn, Russia, Cuba, China, Turkey and Iran have given Maduro’s government full support, with Maduro himself calling Venezuela “the victim of a US conspiracy”, referring to US Vice President Mike Pence promising Guaido “full American support” the day before he declared himself Venezuela’s new head of state. Maduro also stressed that Venezuela had held legitimate elections and urged European countries to withdraw their demand.