Venezuela opposition casts Maduro as illegitimate

Assembly hopes to force change in government Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro begins a new term critics dismiss as illegitimate.

CARACAS, VENEZUELA— Leaders of Venezuela’s opposition on Tuesday set in motion a plan to try to oust President Nicolas Maduro and create a caretaker government until new elections can be held.

The National Assembly, the opposition-controlled legislative body, declared Maduro illegitimate, hoping to trigger a constitutional mechanism that would allow the head of the National Assembly to take over the leadership.

It was not immediately clear what effect the move would have or how Maduro’s government would react.

The National Assembly has been largely powerless since Venezuela’s Supreme Court, which is packed with Maduro loyalists, attempted to dissolve it in March 2017.

But pressure has been growing on Maduro both domestically and abroad since the president was sworn in for his second term last week.

Not long after the ceremony, an opposition leader who is head of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, said he would be ready to take over as president and call fair elections if Venezuelans and the armed forces backed him.

He quickly received support from Luis Almagro, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, who began calling Guaido the country’s “interim president,” and from U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence. Pence said in a message posted on Twitter on Sunday that the United States “strongly supports the courageous decision by Juan Guaido” to “declare the country’s presidency vacant.”

Opposition leaders and longtime Venezuela watchers say Guaido’s challenge to the president comes at a time of unprecedented pressure on Maduro.

“It’s almost a now-or-never moment,” said Fernando Cutz, a former senior White House official who helped shape Venezuela policy under the Trump and Obama administrations.

Guaido was briefly taken into custody by members of Venezuelan intelligence service on Sunday, then released.

He said he had been able to convince the officers that the opposition’s plan to remove Maduro were constitutional and would help the country.