Venezuela's defense minister says opposition supports foreign intervention

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez has accused opposition leaders of supporting a foreign military intervention in the country, the defense ministry said on Friday.

"It is even harder to witness with surprise and sadness some people who are currently supporting a foreign military intervention into Venezuela, so that they can achieve their political goals," Lopez said adding that this represents "irresponsible and unforgivable" behavior and deliberately ignoring "tragic and inevitable consequences" of such developments.

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido said earlier that humanitarian aid will be delivered to Venezuela on February 23. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he will not allow US humanitarian aid in the country because this is how Washington is trying to justify its intervention. On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that under the pretext of delivering humanitarian aid to Venezuela, a provocation is being prepared in order to justify outside military interference.

On January 23 Venezuelan National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido proclaimed himself as the country's acting president. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has described it as a coup attempt and announced severing diplomatic relations with the United States.

Guaido was recognized as interim president by the Lima Group countries (except for Mexico), as well as by Albania, Georgia, the United States, and the Organization of American States. Several EU countries came forward with support for the Venezuelan parliament and expressed hope for new elections to resolve the crisis. Maduro was supported by Russia, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey. Belarus and China called for resolving all issues by peaceful means and spoke against any interference from the outside. The UN secretary general called for dialogue to resolve the crisis.