Venezuelan President Maduro refuses to step down

 Nicolas Maduro

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/./TASS/. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he is not going to step down, Agencia Venezolana de Noticias (AVN) quoted the president as he addressed the Supreme Court on Thursday.

"I will never give up on commitments to the homeland, I will never do this," said the president who was inaugurated for the second term on January 10. The US and the Lima Group countries with the exception of Mexico refused to recognize Maduro’s re-election.

On January 23, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guiado declared himself acting president during an opposition rally in Caracas. Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro described these developments as an attempted coup organized by Washington and said he was breaking diplomatic ties with the US.

The Lima Group member-countries, except for Mexico, as well as Albania, Georgia, the US and the Organization of American States (OAS) have already recognized Guiado as Venezuela's interim president. Some EU countries supported Venezuela’s parliament, expressing hope that elections will be held to resolve the crisis.

Russia, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua and Turkey expressed their support for Maduro. Belarus and China called for resolving all disagreements peacefully and spoke out against outside interference, while the UN secretary general spoke out in favor of dialogue to find a solution to the crisis.