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January 28, 2019

Venezuela: Maduro Gov't Defies U.S. and European Calls to Support Opposition
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In Venezuela, tensions between the government of President Nicolás
Maduro and backers of opposition leader Juan Guaidó continued to mount
over the weekend. Speaking at the U.N. Saturday, Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo told countries to "pick a side," and called on the U.N. Security
Council to back self-declared interim President Guaidó. Meanwhile,
European leaders said on Saturday Maduro should call for new elections
within eight days, a demand that was swiftly rebuked by government
officials and Maduro, who accused European leaders of "kneeling at
Trump's feet."

Maduro scaled back a move to expel U.S. diplomats from the country,
while in the U.S., Venezuela's top military diplomat defected from his
government and expressed support for Juan Guaidó. While Maduro asserted
the Venezuelan military remains loyal to his leadership and is prepared
for a potential armed conflict, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza appeared
to resist any potential foreign attempts to start a war in Venezuela.
This is Arreaza, speaking at the U.N. Saturday.

Jorge Arreaza: "Is he looking for a war in Latin America? Is Venezuela
Donald Trump's war trophy? We are not going to hand Donald Trump a war
in Venezuela."

We'll have more on the situation in Venezuela after headlines with
California Congressmember Ro Khanna.


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