CARACAS, January 30. /TASS/. Washington is taking steps, which could result in transforming Venezuela into a South American Vietnam, the country’s incumbent President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday.

"The people of the United States, I ask for your support in rejecting the Trump administration’s attempts to turn my homeland into Vietnam in Latin America. We will not let this happen!" Maduro tweeted.

On Tuesday, Venezuela’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva Jorge Valero accused the US of planning a military intervention into Venezuela and said Washington had no right to dictate its terms to Caracas.

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 on January 23.

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 as president. Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro blasted these actions as an attempted coup and said he was cutting diplomatic ties with the United States.

Meanwhile, Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands said that they would recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president unless Maduro called elections by February 3.

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.