CARACAS, February 5. /TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denounced the statement made by US President Donald Trump that it was possible to deploy servicemen to Venezuela as madness.
"Speaking of a war in the 21st century is madness. Even the thought that you will send your army to the soil that has people to protect it is madness, Mr Trump," he said during a speech in the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was broadcast on Twitter.
On Sunday, Trump stated that he does not rule out the possibility of using the American armed forces in Venezuela. On January 23, Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas. Several countries, including the United States, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), Australia, Albania, Georgia and Israel, as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him.
Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US. In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey voiced support for Maduro, while China called for resolving all differences peacefully and warned against foreign interference. The United Nations secretary general, in turn, called for dialogue to resolve the crisis.