Venezuela crisis: Maduro rejects UK and EU ultimatum as military envoy to US defects to opposition

Venezuela has dismissed a demand from UK and EU leaders for the country to hold a new presidential election within a week, after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president following a disputed vote last year.

The leaders of France and Britain joined Spain and Germany on Saturday to say they would recognise Mr Guadio as president, unless Nicolas Maduro’s government called a fresh vote in the next eight days.

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said that if there was no announcement of a new election, the bloc would “take further actions, including on the issue of recognition of the country’s leadership.”

“Europe is giving us eight days?” Jorge Arreaza, Venezuela’s foreign minister, said in response.

“Where do you get that you have the power to establish a deadline or an ultimatum to a sovereign people? It’s almost childlike.”

Mr Maduro is under pressure from all sides, after a top military official also recognised Mr Guaido as president.

Jose Luis Silva, a military attache in Washington, defected from the government, declaring his support for the opposition leader in a video posted online.

“Today I speak to the people of Venezuela, and especially to my brothers in the armed forces of the nation, to recognise President Juan Guaido as the only legitimate president,” the official said, in a clip recorded in Washington.

He was filmed sitting at a desk, seated alongside the Venezuelan flag.

“The armed forces have a fundamental role to play in the restoration of democracy,” Mr Silva said.

His defection was triggered by the US recognition of Mr Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president, with Washington, Canada and multiple Latin American countries declaring Mr Maduro’s second-term election win fraudulent.

“The top brass of the military and the executive branch are holding the armed forces hostage. There are many, many who are unhappy,” Mr Silva said.

“My message to the armed forces is, ‘Don’t mistreat your people’. We were given arms to defend the sovereignty of our nation.

“They never, never trained us to say, ‘This is for you to attack your people, to defend the current government in power.”

Small rebellions against the Maduro administration have broken out in Venezuela’s armed forces in recent months.

But the embattled president has managed to prevent a full-scale military uprising.

Venezuela’s commanders pledged their loyalty to Mr Maduro in the days after Mr Guadio declared himself leader.

The opposition claim the president’s re-election last year was fraudulent.

Mr Silva said that one consular official in Houston and one in another US city had also defected but that he was the only diplomat in Washington he knew of who had broken with the Maduro government.

“We welcome him and everyone who with honesty want to follow the constitution and the will of the Venezuelan people,” Mr Guaido said about the official, in a celebratory post on social media.

Venezuela’s defence ministry called Mr Silva a coward and posted a picture of him online, emblazoned with the word “traitor” across it in red capital letters.

Additional reporting by agencies