European nations recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president

The United Kingdom, Spain and France announced Monday that they recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president.

European nations had warned last week that if Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro did not call new elections by the end of Sunday, they would officially recognize Guaido as the self-declared leader of the country.

“Nicolas Maduro has not called Presidential elections within 8 day limit we have set. So UK alongside European allies now recognises @jguaido as interim constitutional president until credible elections can be held. Let’s hope this takes us closer to ending humanitarian crisis,” British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt tweeted on Monday.

Guaido, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly, declared himself acting president on January 23, invoking a constitutional rule to open a rare challenge to Maduro’s claim to the presidency.

Claudia Rebaza, Arnaud Siad and Stephanie Halasz contributed to this report.

Source: CNN