At UN, US urges all nations to end Venezuela's 'nightmare'

UNITED NATIONS — The United States urged all nations Saturday to end Venezuela's "nightmare" and support opposition leader Juan Guaido while Russia accused the Trump administration of attempting "to engineer a coup d'etat" against President Nicolas Maduro — a reflection of the world's deep divisions over the crisis in the South American country.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the U.N. Security Council at a meeting called by Washington that it's beyond time to back the Venezuelan people as they try to free themselves from what he called Maduro's "illegitimate mafia state" and support Guaido. The young opposition leader has declared himself the country's interim president, arguing that Maduro's re-election was fraudulent.

But Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Venezuela doesn't threaten international peace and security and accused "extremist opponents" of Maduro's legitimate government of choosing "maximum confrontation," including the artificial creation of a parallel government. He urged Pompeo to say whether the U.S. will use military force.

Pompeo later told reporters who asked for a response, "I am not going to speculate or hypothesize on what the U.S. will do next."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/at-un-us-urges-all-nations-to-end-venezuelas-nightmare/ar-BBSKviV?li=BBnbcA1

Oh the irony of a Trump administration official calling another country a "mafia state".