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France recognizes opposition leader Guaido as Venezuela interim president

On January 23, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself as acting president
French President Emmanuel Macron  Yoan Valat, Pool via AP
French President Emmanuel Macron
© Yoan Valat, Pool via AP

PARIS, February 4. /TASS/. France recognizes Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president having the right to launch the election process, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote in his Twitter account on Monday.

"The Venezuelans have the right to free and democratic expression of their view [at the elections]. France recognizes Guaido as ‘president in charge’ to implement the election process," he said. "We support the contact group created jointly by the European Union in this transition period," the French president said.

Austria, the UK, Denmark, Spain and Sweden have also recognized Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela on Monday.

On January 23, Juan Guaido, whose appointment as parliamentary speaker had been annulled by the Supreme Court two days before that, declared himself as acting president. On the same day, the United States recognized him as acting head of state. So did the Lima Group countries except for Mexico, the Organization of American States, and a number of other countries.

Some other European countries, including Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and France said on January 26 they would recognize Guaido as interim president, if Maduro refused to call an early election within eight days. The deadline has expired on Monday, February 4.

Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey came out in Maduro’s support. The UN secretary-general urged a dialogue for resolving the crisis.