Venezuela’s Military Chief, Foreign Allies Back Maduro

The announcement that Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido is declaring himself interim president did not mean an immediate and orderly exchange of power, despite enthusiastic cheer-leading from the US and its allies.

In practice, President Nicholas Maduro is still in de facto power, and on Thursday, his military chief declared loyalty to him, while the defense minister accused Guaido of taking part in an attempted coup.

This isn’t exactly a Venezuela against the world situation, either. Key foreign allies, including Russia and China, are vowing to support Maduro, and warning that they will not tolerate “external intervention” against him.

Those warnings are particularly important as hawks within the Trump Administration seem eager to intervene on Guaido’s behalf, or at least intervene against Maduro. Russia is warning the US that any direct military intervention would be a “catastrophic scenario.”