Mike Pence calls on United Nations to recognise Juan Guaido as Venezuelan leader
Mike Pence has urged the United Nations to withdraw their support for Nicolas Maduro and recognise his rival Juan Guaido instead, asking the UN member states to "speak with one voice".
Mr Pence, in New York to discuss Venezuela at the UN Security Council, said on Wednesday that he had been sent on behalf of President Donald Trump to demand action.
"Our message is simple," he said. "It’s time for the United Nations to act."
He said Mr Trump "is a president who embraces his role as leader of the free world", and reiterated, once again, that, all options remain on the table to force Mr Maduro to leave the presidential palace.
"President Trump has made it absolutely clear he is absolutely determined to see through the restoration of democracy in Venezuela," he said, adding that Russia and Iran, propping up Mr Maduro, need to "step aside".
On Tuesday the Organisation of American States (OAS) officially recognised Mr Guaido’s representative, marking another milestone in the opposition’s diplomatic mission.
Convincing the UN to do the same would be a huge boost for Mr Guaido’s supporters, and would unlock more doors for humanitarian intervention, but is currently thought unlikely.
Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN, was told by Mr Pence on Wednesday to go home.
"With all due respect, Mr Ambassador, you shouldn’t be here," said Mr Pence. "You should return to Venezuela and tell Nicolás Maduro that his time is up. It’s time for him to go."
Mr Moncada hit back, describing the US-led efforts to revoke his credentials as a coup.
"This is a mind-boggling, inhumane experiment in warfare," he said, of the attempts to force Mr Maduro from power.
"I would go as far as saying they are committing crimes against humanity, to justify the imposition of a subordinate and puppet government."
He said Mr Maduro’s opponents and their international backers were "seeking the breakdown of the country to justify an invasion," and singled out the Bank of England for "stealing" Venezuela’s money.
The Bank has refused to hand over $1.3 billion in gold, currently held in London vaults, amid fears of money laundering.
Mr Moncada said Britain was acting like a colonial master, "with their history of piracy", and had chosen to "recognise a puppet government which doesn’t control a single street in Venezuela."
Karen Pierce, Britain’s ambassador to the UN, pointed out that the Bank of England was independent and had nothing to do with Britain joining over 50 countries in recognising Mr Guaido as Venezuela’s ruler.
Mr Pence’s efforts to get UN recognition for Mr Guaido face stiff obstacles, and he did not say how he intended to do so. The US mission to the UN was looking into options and lobbying, he said.
For now, Mr Moncada’s position looks secure.
In addition to the influential support for Mr Maduro from China and Russia – both permanent members of the Security Council – the UN members are also wary of the precedent that recognising Mr Guaido would set in their own countries.
Jorge Arreaza, Venezuela’s foreign minister, visited the UN on February 14 and mockingly referred to Mr Guaido as “this man, who is self-proclaimed as president, in the middle of a street, without anything to support it.”
He added: “He has control of nothing. He has no control of even a police patrol in Venezuela. Everything he says is absurd.”
Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, has said that the UN cannot assist with aid deliveries because Mr Maduro has not requested the aid.
In response, Mr Guaido’s team have begun a concerted campaign to make the UN officially back the newcomer, following precedents set by Libya in 2011 and Panama in 1990.
They hope that UN recognition would tighten the financial noose around Mr Maduro, encouraging global financial institutions to abandon his government.
Furthermore, UN recognition of Mr Guaido would be deeply symbolic. His supporters hope that, by conferring an additional layer of legitimacy, the move would encourage wavering military members to defect.
The replacement of the Maduro delegation, headed since December 2017 by Oxford-educated Mr Moncada, Venezuela’s former ambassador to the UK, could occur in two ways.
First, the group could present the credentials challenge to the nine-member UN Credentials Committee, which currently includes Antigua and Barbuda, Chile, China, Finland, Ghana, Palau, Russia, Sierra Leone, and the United States.
If a majority of the Credentials Committee voted to revoke the credentials of Mr Maduro’s delegation and to replace them with those of Mr Guaido’s delegation, then the case would be brought before the General Assembly. A simple majority vote would be required there to affirm the Credential Committee’s recommendation.
Neither vote is subject to a veto by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Second, it would also be possible for the group of Member States to bypass the Credentials Committee entirely and to have the question considered as a separate agenda item of the General Assembly, where it would also require a majority vote.
The scale of the challenge was laid bare on Wednesday when Raul Castro, who stepped down as Cuban president last year, used his first public appearance in three months to vow that his country would never abandon Venezuela.
Cuba has for the past 20 years propped up Venezuela’s governments, sending military advisors and medical staff, and receiving in return cheap oil.
"The Venezuelan and Chavista government is writing admirable pages of resistance," he said.
And Russian UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the United States of provoking an artificial crisis to oust Mr Maduro and replace him "with their own pawn," actions he described as a "lawless, thuggish violation of international law."
"We call on the United States to once again recognize that the Venezuelan people and other peoples have the right to determine their own future," he said.
"If you want to make America great again, and we are all sincerely interested in seeing that, stop interfering in the affairs of other states."