On 2 February, Foreign Undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano said that Italy does not recognize Venezuela’s interim President Juan Guaido. Obviously, he prefers “Maduro and the narco-generals, as in the case of Russia, China, Iran, Cuba and other corrupt countries. He stes himself against the 27 EU Member States and the majority of Latin American OAS members that which support the President. The government has shown their real colors as already happened in Prague in 1968” said Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, President of the Global Committee for the Rule of Law.
Also Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, stated on 3 February that “the Italian veto prevents the Union from taking a clear position in favor of freedom in Venezuela. I ask Italy to embrace the resolution adopted by the European Parliament recognizing Juan Guaido as interim President.”
The armed forces have sided with Nicolas Maduro. However, a general of the Venezuelan Air Force, Francisco Esteban Yanez Rodriguez, said in a video that he recognizes the authority of Juan Guaidò and he added that an aircraft is awaiting Maduro; an attempt to offer him exile, as also put forward by the Nonviolent Radical Party Transnational Transparty.
Sixteen Latin American countries support the interim President Juan Guaido who, according to the Constitution of Venezuela, as incumbent president of the National Assembly must take up the Presidency temporarily until the organization of free and fair elections takes place. It is essential to underline that the opposition acted within the scope of the Constitution by waiting for the deadline needed to trigger Article 233 of the Constitution and announce the new interim Presidency.
Matteo Angioli