VENEZUELA: Maduro cuts ties with U.S. after Trump backs rival

Venezuela’s embattled leader Nicolas Maduro severed relations with the United States and ordered American diplomats out of the country, accusing Washington of orchestrating a coup d’etat after an opposition leader publicly announced he was now president. In a televised broadcast from the presidential palace late on Wednesday, Maduro accused the opposition of seeking to stage […]

Venezuela’s embattled leader Nicolas Maduro severed relations with the United States and ordered American diplomats out of the country, accusing Washington of orchestrating a coup d’etat after an opposition leader publicly announced he was now president.

In a televised broadcast from the presidential palace late on Wednesday, Maduro accused the opposition of seeking to stage a coup with the support of the US, which he said was seeking to govern Venezuela from Washington. “We’ve had enough interventionism, here we have dignity, damn it,” said an angry Maduro.

Earlier on Wednesday, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in an address to tens of thousands of people on the streets of Caracas.

At the mass rally, Guaido accused Maduro of usurping power and promised to create a transitional government that would help the country escape its hyperinflationary economic collapse.