Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday began a new term with the economy in ruins and his regime more isolated than ever as regional leaders declared his re-election illegitimate and shunned his inauguration.
The 56-year-old socialist leader was sworn in by Venezuelan Supreme Court President Maikel Moreno as an audience of hundreds, including a handful of South American leftist leaders and Venezuela’s military top brass, cheered and applauded.
“I swear on behalf of the people of Venezuela ... I swear on my life,” Maduro said solemnly as he took the oath of office for a second six-year term.
Photo: Reuters
After donning the presidential sash — as well as a ceremonial gold chain bearing the key to the sarcophagus containing the remains of Venezuelan revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar — an ebullient Maduro turned to salute the crowd with a “V” sign.
Maduro was re-elected in May last year in an election boycotted by the majority of the opposition and dismissed as fraudulent by the US, EU and Organization of American States (OAS).
“The US will not recognize the Maduro dictatorship’s illegitimate inauguration,” US National Security Advisor John Bolton tweeted Thursday.
Canada slammed Maduro for transforming his country into a “fully entrenched dictatorship.”
In a special session in Washington, the OAS similarly backed a resolution declaring Maduro’s government illegitimate.
“Venezuela is the center of a world war with US imperialism and its satellite governments,” the socialist leader retorted in a rambling speech that lasted for about two hours.
He also demanded “respect” from the EU, accusing the union of “old colonialism” and “old racism” after it on Thursday said that Maduro “lacked any credibility.”
A smiling Maduro arrived at the Supreme Court building serenaded by a choir singing patriotic songs. He blew kisses at a welcoming party of children waving Venezuelan flags and saluted supporters looking down from the building’s multi-tiered galleries.
With the exception of Mexico, the Lima Group — made up of 14 mostly Latin American countries — has urged Maduro to renounce his second term and deliver power to parliament.
Lima Group member Paraguay announced immediately after the ceremony that it was breaking off diplomatic relations with Venezuela, while Peru branded it a “dictatorship.”
Leftist presidents Miguel Diaz-Canel of Cuba, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Salvador Sanchez Ceren of El Salvador and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua were present for the inauguration ceremony, as were representatives of Russia, China and Turkey. Mexico sent a low-level diplomat.
A former bus driver and union leader, Maduro is the handpicked successor of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Maduro has gained control of virtually all of Venezuela’s political institutions and enjoys the support of the military, but his first term saw an exodus of millions of people escaping an economic meltdown.
The UN has said that more than 5 million will have fled by the end of this year.
The IMF predicts that Venezuela’s economy will shrink by 5 percent next year, with inflation — which reached 1.35 million percent last year — hitting a staggering 10 million percent.
The ceremony took place in the Supreme Court rather than the sidelined, opposition-controlled parliament, which has refused to recognize Maduro.
Instead, in a statement on Thursday the parliament called on the army, Maduro’s bedrock, to formally disavow the president.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in