Venezuelan Ambassador says Opposition Leader Staging Coup D’etat

Political and economic pressures continue to mount on Nicolas Maduro, the embattled President of Venezuela. The South American country has been thrown into chaos and crisis over the past few months as tens of thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets to protest. Opposition Leader Juan Guaido has declared himself the interim president of the country, though that position is not provided for in the Venezuelan constitution.  The U.S. government is behind Guaido and earlier this week, it announced that it would prohibit imports of Venezuelan crude and bar U.S. companies from trading with the country. Venezuela’s ambassador to Belize Gerardo Antonio Argote told News Five that Guido is attempting to seize power from Maduro with the help of international forces.

Gerardo Antonio Argote

Gerardo Antonio Argote, Venezuelan Ambassador to Belize

“The truth is that right now there is a coup d’etat against the government of President Maduro, against the national constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and against the people who believe in the democracy and our national constitution. I can tell to Belizean people that right now the streets in Venezuela are normal. The people are going to work, the children are in the school and the government is working in normal conditions. We are facing a coup d’etat that was organized and financed by foreign countries and it is so hard for us to have to deal with it but we are going to win. We have to say to the international community that we are not alone, we have friend all over the world. We know about our rights. We believe in our national constitution and we believe in our laws and principally we believe in international laws because we believe in international laws.”