US Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday asked the United Nations to recognize Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, telling the Security Council: "Nicolas Maduro must go." Washington will present a draft UN resolution aimed at recognizing the opposition leader, revoking the credentials of Maduro's UN envoy and appointing Guaido's representative as the ambassador to the world body, Pence told the council.
"The time has come for the United Nations to recognize interim president Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela and seat his representative in this body," Pence said.
The United States is among some 50 countries that recognize Guaido, the opposition leader who declared himself interim president in January in a bid to replace Maduro whom he has branded as illegitimate. Maduro has maintained control with support from the military, Russia and China. Russia last month sent troops to Caracas, raising tensions between Washington and Moscow.
Pence argued that Maduro had brought "deprivation" to Venezuela and that without action, "chaos and suffering will only spread" to the region, already faced with an influx of millions of migrants.
Venezuela was plunged into another major blackout on Wednesday leaving large parts of the country without power as Maduro met with the head of the Red Cross and agreed to receive international aid.
"We confirm our readiness to establish cooperation mechanisms for international assistance and support," Maduro posted on Twitter after meeting ICRC president Peter Maurer. Maduro has denied that his country faces a humanitarian crisis and blames US sanctions for Venezuela's economic problems, but Guaido has pointed to corruption and mismanagement by the Caracas government for the crisis. Guaido has called for street protests on Wednesday to keep the pressure on Maduro to step aside.