CARACAS: Venezuela government said in a statement on Monday it will break diplomatic relations with Paraguay and remove its diplomats from the other South American country, a day after Paraguayan President Santiago Pena expressed support for Venezuela’s opposition.
The break comes days before Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is set to be inaugurated for his third term, after a contested July election that both he and former opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez claim to have won.
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Pena, who is among several world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, who consider Gonzalez to be Venezuela’s president-elect, posted on X on Sunday that he had spoken with Gonzalez via video call and is committed to helping to restore democracy in Venezuela.