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General Francisco Yanez, high command of Venezuela’s air force, said he now recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim head-of-state, according to media reports Saturday.
In a video circulating on Twitter on Saturday, Yanez said most of the armed forces have already disavowed Maduro, who claims he is victim of a coup directed by the U.S.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in a defiant speech Wednesday before masses of anti-government demonstrators who took to the streets to demand President Nicolas Maduro’s removal — a bold move that was immediately recognized by the Trump administration and a growing number of other Western nations.
President Donald Trump called on Maduro to resign and said the U.S. would use the “full weight” of its economic and diplomatic power to push for the restoration of Venezuela’s democracy. Canada as well as Brazil, Colombia and several other Latin American nations followed suit in throwing their support behind Guaido.
The Trump administration is considering a “significant drawdown” of U.S. troops in Afghanistan that could begin in the coming weeks, The Wall Street Journal reports.
An official told the newspaper more than 7,000 troops will begin to return home in the coming weeks in the “first stage of a phased drawdown” that could take “many months.”
President Donald Trump has begun withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria, the White House announced Wednesday, declaring victory over Islamic State fighters in the country despite ongoing skirmishes and concerns from others in Washington that the terrorist group might mount a comeback.
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Thousands of Colombians have fled their homes amid fresh clashes among armed rebels and a lockdown on transport and trade in the volatile northeast Catatumbo region, the Organization of American States (OAS) and aid agencies said on Wednesday.
The violence has uprooted at least 1,000 families in Catatumbo seeking to escape the crossfire in disputes over drug trafficking and territorial control along the border with Venezuela.