Maduro warned over threats to US diplomats

US warned Venezuela that any threats against American diplomats or opposition leader Juan Guaido will be met with "a significant response".

National Security Adviser John Bolton said any such "intimidation" would be "a grave assault on the rule of law".

The warning didn't address specific groups or individuals, but Bolton noted in a linked tweet that Cuba's "support and control over President Maduro's security and paramilitary forces" was well known.

Maduro has received backing from China, Russia, Syria and Turkey, as well as longtime allies Cuba and Bolivia.

Guaido yesterday called for two new protests, in an effort to push the military to turn against Maduro and back a European ultimatum demanding free elections within the week.

He said opposition sympathisers should take to the streets tomorrow to pass out copies of a pamphlet proposing amnesty that would give some legal protection to members of the military in hopes they will turn against Maduro.

"We must remain united as active agents of change in every corner of the country," Guaido tweeted yesterday. "We're doing well, very well, Venezuela!"

On Sunday, Israel and Australia joined countries backing the 35-year-old Guaido, and US President Donald Trump said his government had accepted Venezuelan opposition figure Carlos Alfredo Vecchio as a diplomatic representative to the United States.

Nearly 30 people have been killed and more than 350 arrested in clashes with security forces over the past week.

Guaido took advantage of a major street demonstration on January 23 to swear himself in as the country's rightful leader, accusing Maduro of usurping power following a disputed 2018 re-election that countries around the world described as a fraud.

MILITARY INTERVENTION

Guaido is asking for help in getting control of the Venezuelan government's offshore assets, reported Reuters.

In recent days, he urged British Prime Minister Theresa May and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney to block Maduro's government from collecting more than $1 billion in gold held by the Bank of England.

Venezuela's once-buoyant socialist economic system has imploded from corruption and mismanagement since the collapse of world oil prices in 2014, pushing inflation to almost 2 million percent and driving millions of Venezuelans to neighbouring countries.

Maduro says his government is the victim of an "economic war" led by his political adversaries with the help of Washington, which has levied several rounds of sanctions against the country since 2017.

Venezuela's military attache in Washington, Army Colonel Jose Luis Silva, switched his support to Guaido in a video that called on his brothers in arms to follow his lead.

In Washington, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, considered a key architect of the US policy on Venezuela, played down the possibility of a military intervention despite his and Trump's warnings earlier in the week that "all options are on the table."

The Venezuelan leader earlier had given US diplomats until late Saturday to leave the country, reported AFP.

But as the deadline expired, Maduro said he had begun negotiations to set up within 30 days an Interests Section in Caracas to maintain a minimum level of diplomatic contact, similar to the arrangement the US had with Cuba until their 2015 rapprochement.