Canada recognized Juan Guaidó, president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, as interim president of the South American country, after the opposition leader was awarded the powers of the Executive.
A senior Canadian official told Efe today that “Canada has recognized” the Venezuelan opposition leader as the interim president of Venezuela, although the Canadian government has not yet made an official statement communicating its decision.
The recognition of Canada joins that already done by other countries such as the United States, Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador.
In recent years, Canada has stood out for its criticism of the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and has imposed economic sanctions on prominent government leaders.
On January 10, the Canadian government described the regime as “illegitimate” and “dictatorial” on the same day that Maduro took office as president of the country after the May 20 elections.
Precisely, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Canada, Chrystia Freeland, described the presidential elections that gave Maduro a new mandate as “fraudulent”.
The Canadian minister said that Canada “rejects the legitimacy of the new presidential term of Nicolás Maduro.”
“We request that he immediately cede power to the democratically elected National Assembly until new elections are held, which should include the participation of all political actors and follow the release of all political prisoners in Venezuela,” Freeland continued.
The announcement of Canada and other governments comes at the time that thousands of Venezuelans participated today in protests against the second term of President Nicolás Maduro both in Caracas and in cities around the world, convened by the opposition.
Venezuela is experiencing a situation of political uncertainty since last January 10 Maduro took office again after elections held last May and not recognized by most of the international community.
