‘US, allies hatching ‘plan for war’ against Venezuela’

CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says the US administration, in collaboration with Venezuela’s opposition figure Juan Guaido and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, is hatching a “plan for war” against Caracas.

“From the White House, a plan has been decided to bring war to Venezuela... to escalate a violent and armed conflict and justify an invasion,” Maduro said during a televised speech at his presidential palace in the capital late on Friday.

Maduro accused Washington of forging plans against his government and said US President “Donald Trump has given the order to fill Venezuela with violence” with the support of Guaido, who he once again called “puppet.” The 57-year-old president said the United States was at the head of more than 50 countries that rejected Maduro’s second term, considering him “illegitimate,” and instead recognizing Guaido as president in charge.

“And now, Jair Bolsonaro was quoted in the Donald Trump’s mansion in Miami, the only issue is pushing Brazil into an armed conflict with Venezuela, [that] is the only issue he has with Jair Bolsonaro, and from Venezuela we denounce him,” Maduro added. He went on to say that “we are asking the democratic and humanitarian circles, the people of Brazil and the armed forces [of that country] to stop any adventures against Venezuela by Trump-backed Jair Bolsonaro.”

The White House announced earlier in the day that Trump was to meet with the Brazilian president — dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” — on Saturday to discuss the crisis in Venezuela, among other issues.

In a move to further downgrade relations with Venezuela, Brazil’s far-right government of Bolsonaro, which is allied with the US, has begun pulling out all its diplomats from Caracas, and has called on Maduro to recall his country’s representatives from Brasilia.