The government of El Salvador expelled all representatives from the Maduro regime in the country, and issued a statement recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate head of Venezuela.
The news came from the personal Twitter account of the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele. In a tweet, Bukele posted an official statement, part of which reads:
The Government of El Salvador is expelling the diplomatic staff from the Nicolas Maduro regime, in adherence to reiterated statements from President Nayib Bukele in which he did not recognize the legitimacy of the Maduro government.
(…)
As a result, the Salvadorian government gives 48 hours to all diplomatic staff from the Maduro regime to leave the country.
(…)
… the government of President Nayib Bukele recognizes the legitimacy of Interim President Juan Guaido… the Salvadorian government expects to receive the credentials from the new diplomatic mission from Venezuela shortly.
In the statement, Bukele claims that the decision to expel Maduro’s diplomats comes in part as a result of the regime’s “systematic human rights abuses against Venezuelans” as outlined in a July report from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations.
Bukele assumed office on June 1 of this year. Days before he was sworn in, Bukele said:
Dictators like Maduro in Venezuela will never have any legitimacy, because they maintain themselves in power through force and they do not respect the will of their people.
Bukele’s stance is a break from that of his predecessor, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, who had relatively warm relations with both the Chavez and Maduro regimes.
Caracas Calls Bukele “Pawn”, Reciprocates Move
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an official statement this afternoon in reaction to the news from San Salvador, calling Bukele “a pawn” of the United States and expelling the nation’s diplomats from Venezuela.
The same statement claims that the move from El Salvador does little more than “give oxygen” to the “United States strategy of intervention and economic blockade” against Venezuela.
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