MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. Venezuela’s authorities are not isolated and have backing from influential allies amid the crisis in the Latin American country, head of the Operational Strategic Command (CEOFAN) of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela Remigio Ceballos said on VTV channel live on Monday.
"We are not in isolation <...>, we have influential allies," Ceballos said. There are "more than 180 countries that support Venezuela <...> in the current situation" in the country, he said. Ceballos admitted that there are states in the Western Hemisphere that "exert influence and threaten Venezuela through diplomatic channels."
Ceballos also affirmed that the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela are concentrated around the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro. There is no chaos in the army, despite the appeals of the opposition for the army not to recognize the legitimate head of state and side with his political opponents.
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. Incumbent Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US.
Several European countries delivered the ultimatum to hold an early presidential election and after its expiration recognized Guaido as interim president. In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.