Venezuela reacted with outrage on Monday after the opposition openly courted US military support, with the regime denouncing what it called a “repugnant” attempt to plot an armed intervention in the crisis-torn country.
A Venezuelan general called on the country's armed forces on Sunday to rise up against President Nicolas Maduro, who has relied on the backing of the military to hold on to power despite an economic collapse.
The president of the Venezuelan Parliament, Juan Guaidó, asked on Saturday his diplomatic representative in the US, Carlos Vecchio, to meet with the leaders of the Southern Command of that country to coordinate possible military cooperation in the face of the Venezuelan crisis. Meanwhile, the minister of defense of the administration of Nicolás Maduro, Vladimir Padrino López, warned on the same day a provocation of a US Coast Guard vessel that sailed 20 kilometers away from La Guaira, the main port of Venezuela.
Members of the Venezuelan armed forces that abandon President Nicolas Maduro will keep their rank and be reinstated once a new government is in place, the opposition-controlled legislature said on Tuesday. The announcement marked the latest offer from the National Assembly, headed by opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido, to try to convince more military personnel to switch sides.