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News > Latin America

Venezuelan President Maduro: All of Europe Kneeling at Trump's Feet

  • Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during an interview with CNN Turk.

    Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during an interview with CNN Turk. | Photo: Prensa Presidencial

Published 27 January 2019
Opinion

In an interview with CNN Turk, President Maduro rejected the ultimatums presented by European countries to his government and did not rule out talks with Washington.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday rejected an international ultimatum to call elections within eight days and said opposition leader Juan Guaido had violated the country's constitution by declaring himself leader.

RELATED:UK Labour Lawmakers, High-profile Activists, Academics Defend Venezuela Against Intervention

"Europe has an insolent position, unsustainable, unpresentable. And it should withdraw its ultimatum. No one gives us ultimatums,” said President Maduro, in an interview with CNN Turk shot on Saturday and aired on Sunday, of European countries join the interventionist policy of the United States and its right-wing allies in Latin America.

“If they want to leave Venezuela, they should all go, and now. Venezuela will continue its path, fortunately we don't depend on Europe. And those arrogant, overbearing attitudes, looking down on us, because we are 'sudacas' (derogatory term for South Americans), inferior to them.“

He went on slam the leaders of Europe as “sycophants, kneeling behind the policies of Donald Trump. All of Europe is kneeling at the feet of (U.S. President) Donald Trump, it's as simple as that, and especially over Venezuela."

Commenting on the opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido who has declared himself, with no constitutional basis, an “interim president,” the Venezuelan president said, "I think he violated the constitution and all the laws” adding that Guaido’s actions will be referred to the judicial power.

“Now, I am not the organ of justice in the country. I am not the national attorney general. It will be up to the attorney general's office, the civilian power, the main court of justice, the judicial power, to decide the steps to safeguard the constitution. And we will wait. These are matters that will sort themselves out according to justice."

The United States and its right-wing allies recognized opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido as the country's "interim president" after he spef-proclaimed himself as such on Jan. 23, an illegal and unconstitutional move and a rejection of the second term of the Nicolas Maduro in office which he won after last year's May elections.

Since then Guaido, the United States and right-wing governments in the region have been calling on the Venezuelan military to oust Maduro. However, the country's defense minister and top military brass have come out in support of Maduro and his government.

Maduro said he was open to dialogue and that meeting U.S. President Donald Trump was "improbable" but "not impossible."

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