Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused Donald Trump of ordering neighbouring Colombia’s government to kill him, but said he was open to the possibility of talks with the U.S. leader and his own domestic foes.
President Nicolás Maduro has gone further to call Donald Trump’s government a “gang of extremists” and blamed the US for his country’s crisis.
In an interview with the BBC, Maduro said he would not allow humanitarian aid into Venezuela as it was a way for the US to justify an intervention.
“They are warmongering in order to take over Venezuela,” he said.
Facing the biggest challenge of his six year rule , the 56-year-old socialist leader also said his armed forces remained loyal and President Vladimir Putin was firmly behind him.
Mr Maduro – who still has the support of Turkey, Russia and China and, crucially, of the Venezuelan army – said he did not see the need for early presidential elections.
“What’s the logic, reasoning, to repeat an election?” he asked.
He also said only “about 10” governments supported Mr Guaidó – in fact, more than 30 have announced support fo the opposition leader- and that they were trying to “impose a government that nobody has elected”.
“The extremists of the White House have taken it upon themselves to carry out a coup in Venezuela.”
Maduro is under growing internal and international pressure to call early presidential elections amid a worsening economic crisis and accusations of widespread corruption and human rights violations.
Meanwhile, Guaidó has called for new anti-government protests to force Maduro out of the government.