WikiLeaks's Julian Assange to be sentenced for skipping UK bail - Al Jazeera English

A UK judge sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Judge Deborah Taylor said it was hard to imagine a more serious version of the offense as she gave the 47-year-old hacker a sentence close to the maximum of a year in custody.

She said Assange's seven years in the embassy had cost UK taxpayers 16 million pounds ($21m), and said he sought asylum as a "deliberate attempt to delay justice".

The white-haired Assange stood impassively with his hands clasped while the sentence was read. His supporters in the public gallery at Southwark Crown Court chanted "Shame on you" at the judge as Assange was led away.

An Australian citizen, Assange sought asylum in the South American country's London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

Assange's lawyer Mark Summers told a courtroom packed with journalists and WikiLeaks supporters that his client sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy because "he was living with overwhelming fear of being rendered to the US".

He said Assange had a "well-founded" fear that he would be mistreated and possibly sent to the US detention camp for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

Summers read a letter from Assange apologising for his behaviour in 2012 and saying "I did what I thought was best".

"I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances," the letter said.

Assange was arrested April 11 after Ecuador revoked his political asylum, accusing him of everything from meddling in the nation's foreign affairs to poor hygiene.

He faces a separate court hearing on Thursday on a US extradition request. US authorities have charged Assange with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system.

Asylum revoked

A bedraggled and sickly looking Assange was dragged out of the embassy building in the UK capital by officers and bundled into a police van after the South American country abruptly revoked his asylum.

Assange, 47, was initially arrested for breaching bail terms and was later found guilty before a London court.

In the earlier hearing, a judge said Assange displayed the "behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest".

Police said they had been "invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorean government's withdrawal of asylum".

Assange was arrested upon arrival at a police station on behalf of the United States after it requested his extradition, police added.

US federal prosecutors charged him with computer hacking and aiding whistle-blower Chelsea Manning, which they said carries a potential five-year prison term.

Speaking to reporters outside the court after Assange's arrest, WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson said the case sets a dangerous precedent, and that Assange may face even more charges if he is delivered to the US.

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"Anyone who wants to press to be free should consider the implications of this case. If they will extradite a journalist to the US, then no journalist will be safe."

"There is no assurance that there won't be additional charges when he is on US soil," Hrafnsson added.

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2019-05-01 10:44:00Z
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Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach - BBC News

Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions.

The 47-year-old was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act last month after his arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy.

He took refuge in the London embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he has denied.

In a letter read to the court, Assange said he had found himself "struggling with difficult circumstances".

He apologised to those who "consider I've disrespected them", a packed Southwark Crown Court heard.

"I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done," he said.

As he was taken down to the cells, Assange raised a fist in defiance to his supporters in the public gallery behind him.

They raised their fists in solidarity and directed shouts of "shame on you" towards the court.

He now faces US federal conspiracy charges related to one of the largest leaks of government secrets.

The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange to the US in response to allegations that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases.

He faces up to five years in a US prison if convicted.

The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has published thousands of classified documents covering everything from the film industry to national security and war.

---

At the scene

By BBC correspondent Andy Moore, at Southwark Crown Court

As Julian Assange arrived at court from Belmarsh High Security prison, photographers got a picture of him defiantly pumping his fist.

He's still got a beard but it's been trimmed - it's not the white, bushy beard he was wearing when he was hauled out of the Ecuadorean Embassy last month.

There's big international interest, and more than a dozen TV cameras outside.

Journalists had to queue for two hours before the case opened to get a ticket to Court Number One, or to an overflow court where there was a videolink to the live proceedings.

Supporters of Assange are outside court making their voices heard - one has been reading from her notes saying Assange is a political prisoner.

---

Assange was dramatically arrested by UK police on 11 April after Ecuador abruptly withdrew its asylum.

At a court hearing that same day, he was remanded in custody and called a "narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest" by district judge Michael Snow.

Days later, Swedish prosecutors said they were considering reopening the investigation into rape and sexual assault allegations against him.

At the time, Assange said he had had entirely consensual sex with two women while on a trip to Stockholm to give a lecture.

Prosecutors dropped the rape investigation in 2017 because they were unable to formally notify him of allegations while he was staying in the embassy.

Two other charges of molestation and unlawful coercion had to be dropped in 2015 because time had run out.

More than 70 UK MPs and peers have signed a letter urging Home Secretary Sajid Javid to ensure Assange faces authorities in Sweden if they want his extradition.

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2019-05-01 10:43:02Z
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One Image of Japan’s Royals Tells a Story of Demographic Crisis - The New York Times

TOKYO — It looked a little lonely up there.

During the short, solemn ceremony on Wednesday in which the new emperor of Japan, Naruhito, 59, accepted the sacred sword, jewels and seals that signify his right to sit on the throne, he was flanked by just two people. Standing ramrod straight to his right was his younger brother, Prince Akishino. To his left was his aging uncle, Prince Hitachi, who sat in a wheelchair.

It was striking visual evidence of the imperial family’s looming existential crisis: It has precious few heirs left.

Like Japan itself, the imperial family has a demographic problem. Just as Japan’s population is shrinking and aging, so is the royal family’s. The line of succession, which is limited to men, is only three people long.

Besides the emperor’s 53-year-old brother and 83-year-old uncle, there is only one other eligible heir: Prince Hisahito, the emperor’s nephew. Because he is only 12, he was too young to attend Wednesday’s ceremony. Under rules set by a government committee, only adult male members of the royal family were permitted to witness the rites.

“It’s so obvious, right?” Takeshi Hara, an expert on the imperial family and a professor at the Open University of Japan, said after watching the sacred regalia handoff on television. “The severity that the family faces is apparent.”

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Princess Aiko, 17, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito and his wife, Empress Masako, is not allowed to ascend to the throne.CreditKazuhiro Nogi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Thirty minutes after the ascension ceremony, the women of the imperial family filed into the state room in the Imperial Palace, where the new emperor delivered a brief address before a group of politicians, judges, prefectural leaders and their spouses.

This time, Naruhito was flanked by 13 family members, 11 of whom were women.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed a platform of elevating women in the often patriarchal Japanese workplace, hoping to supplement the country’s dwindling labor force and energize its economy.

Similarly, the imperial family may have to consider permitting women to join the line of succession.

Under current law, women are not allowed to ascend to the throne, and women born into the royal family must renounce their imperial titles and officially leave the family once they marry. Their children — even males — cannot succeed to the throne.

When Japan’s Parliament passed a one-time law in 2017 to allow Naruhito’s father, Emperor Akihito, to abdicate, it attached an addendum that encouraged the government to study the possibility of allowing women born into the royal family to remain within the imperial household after marrying.

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Naruhito’s motorcade after his imperial rituals in Tokyo on Wednesday.CreditTakuya Inaba/Kyodo News, via Associated Press

Such a move would expand the pool of available heirs if the women were granted the right to head legitimate lines of succession, even if they could not sit on the throne themselves.

On Wednesday, Mr. Abe’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said in a news conference that the declining number of imperial heirs was “an extremely important issue related to the fundamentals of the state.” He said the government would conduct discussions about allowing royal women to remain within the imperial family “deliberately and carefully.”

Emperor Naruhito and his wife, Masako, have just one child, a daughter, Princess Aiko, 17. After she was born, the government briefly considered changing the law to allow women to join the line of succession. But once Prince Hisahito was born, such discussions were shelved.

Conservatives oppose proposals to admit women to the line of succession, citing tradition and notions of pure-blood legitimacy. If women were allowed as emperors, said Hidetsugu Yagi, a professor of law and philosophy at Reitaku University in Chiba Prefecture, “the imperial family would be no different than any other ordinary family.”

“Eventually,” he said, “the imperial system would end.”

In fact, rules barring women from heading lines of succession date back only to the 19th century, in the Meiji Era. And over the 126 generations of recorded emperors in Japan, eight women ruled when no adult men were eligible at the time.

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Watching the emperor’s motorcade.CreditKim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

The emperor and other members of the imperial family are extremely circumspect in their public comments, so it is impossible to know for sure what they think about the succession problem.

Earlier this year, Naruhito acknowledged that there were few remaining heirs and specifically referred to “the declining ratio of male imperial members.”

But even if he wanted to, it would be difficult for the new emperor to change the rules.

“It’s not as if we can expect him to take radical action,” said Kristi Govella, an assistant professor of Asian studies at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. “There are many actors who would be involved, particularly in actually changing the rules of succession.” Any changes to imperial law must be approved by Parliament.

Still, those who resist change may have to yield to reality, said Kenneth J. Ruoff, a historian and specialist in Imperial Japan at Portland State University. “Everybody in Japan now speaks openly about the fact that the future of the imperial line is in grave danger,” he said. “They don’t have any choice but to revisit the issue.”

Outside the Imperial Palace following the ascension rites on Wednesday, well-wishers gathered in hopes of getting a glimpse of the new emperor, with some saying they wished that the imperial family could change how it treats women.

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A ceremony marking the enthronement of the new emperor at a shrine in Tokyo.CreditCharly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“What’s wrong with a female emperor, I wonder?” said Yukiko Minegishi, 41, who works at a uniform maker in Tokyo and had come to the palace with her mother.

She added that the prohibition against women in the line of succession was, like other gender-related traditions in Japan, out of step with the times.

Ms. Minegishi noted that women are not allowed in sumo rings, another practice that has come under scrutiny, after a referee last year shooed women out of a ring when they rushed to offer lifesaving measures to a politician who had collapsed while delivering a speech.

“Those practices need to change in the modern era,” Ms. Minegishi said. “Men and women should be treated equally.”

Although any overhaul of imperial rules may take time, some analysts wondered if the new empress might subtly serve as a role model for women in society.

A former diplomat, Empress Masako could be enlisted as a cultural ambassador for Japan. Shortly after her marriage, she impressed observers when she sat between President Bill Clinton and the Russian leader, Boris N. Yeltsin, at a state dinner and conversed easily with both of them in their own languages.

She could soon have the opportunity to flex her diplomatic skills: President Trump will be the first foreign leader to meet the new emperor and empress, arriving in Tokyo later this month.

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2019-05-01 10:03:08Z
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Venezuelan opposition leader pledges ‘largest march’ in country’s history a day after fierce protests - Fox News

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido called for his countrymen to take to the streets Wednesday in what he pledged would be the “largest march” in the country’s history as he attempts to gain the support of the armed forces to oust embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido’s appearance early Tuesday with national guard members outside a Caracas air force base triggered violent protests that resulted in more than 100 injured in clashes with authorities. The White House tweeted a video showing Venezuelan military vehicle appearing to hit protestors with the caption "This is the corrupt, illegitimate Maduro Regime."

Guaido's call for a massive march apparently prompted Maduro to call on his own "millions-strong march of the working class.”

Maduro, in a late-night televised address, said, “We have been confronting different types of aggression and attempted coups never before seen in our history.”

While Guaido called on the military to rise up against Maduro, no major defections were reported.  However, Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the head of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and a Maduro supporter, appeared to break with the socialist leader in an open letter.

He didn’t mention Maduro or Guaido by name, but said "the time has come to seek new ways of doing politics" and to try and "rebuild the country."

Wednesday’s turnout could be a key test for Guaido. Some of his supporters have grown frustrated that Maduro remains in power three months after he declared himself president.

The timing of the march comes on International Workers’ Day as Guaido makes an appeal to Maduro’s traditional support base of union leaders and public workers.

“If he does get some degree of participation from labor movements, then that can be an additional feather in his cap,” Risa Grais-Targow, the Latin America director at Eurasia Group in Washington, told Reuters.

The march could be “a significant barometer of his support and capacity to mobilize,” she added.

“I hope this will be the last time we have to take to the streets,” Claudia Riveros, a 36-year-old bakery worker carrying a Venezuelan flag during Tuesday’s protest, told the news agency. “I want to see the end of this usurping government.”

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, center, flanked by Venezuela's Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lopez, right, and the President of the Constituent Assembly Diosdado Cabello, left, speaks during a televised national message at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela on Tuesday. (Miraflores Press Office via AP)

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Guaido said some top military commanders support an uprising, but none have come out publically.

"The armed forces have taken the right decision," said Guaidó. "With the support of the Venezuelan people and the backing of our constitution they are on the right side of history."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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2019-05-01 09:14:42Z
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Venezuela's Maduro claims to have defeated 'coup,' as rival Guaido urges more protests - CNN

In a live televised address Tuesday night, his first since the apparent uprising began, Maduro rejected claims he has lost control of the military and accused "imperialist" forces of seeking "to attack and overthrow a legitimate government to enslave Venezuela."

"We have been facing various forms of coup d'etat, due to the obsessive efforts of the Venezuelan right, the Colombian oligarchy and the US empire," Maduro explained, adding that the military air base Guaido had spoken from earlier in the morning was never under the control of the opposition.

The speech followed a dawn address from Guaido Tuesday, in which the young opposition leader, standing alongside a group of soldiers in the capital Caracas, announced an uprising to seize power from Maduro. It marked the most serious challenge to Maduro's leadership so far and unleashed a day of street protests and skirmishes.

In a follow-up video post, recorded from an unknown location and posted Tuesday evening, Guaido called for renewed action "over the expanse and length of Venezuela."

He urged "all of Venezuela" to protest on International Worker's Day, a globally celebrated holiday that falls on May 1.

Despite the government's claims that the Tuesday uprising had been quashed, Guaido, who is the head of Venezuela's National Assembly, said that "Operation Freedom" would continue.

In the video speech, Guaido said that Maduro no longer had the "support nor the respect of the armed forces."

He asked the military to help advance "Operation Freedom," which he described as a mission to rescue "our dignity, our country, our people, our family -- that is the challenge."

"May 1, we continue to be in the streets, in the selected places of gathering chosen and defined in all the national territory. Over the expanse and length of Venezuela, we will be in the streets. We will see you all in the streets. That is our territory," Guaido said.

Guaido: Army deserting Maduro

On Tuesday, protesters made their way to the city's La Carlota military airbase, sparking confrontations between Guaido's military supporters and Maduro regime loyalists under a cloud of tear gas as gunshots rang through the air.

More than 70 people were injured in the clashes and were taken to Salud Chacao Medical Center in Caracas, according to the hospital's president.

Of the injured, 42 were wounded with rubber bullets and two were treated for gunshot wounds. According to Venezuela Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino, a military colonel was also shot during clashes.

Opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez -- apparently freed from house arrest by defecting soldiers -- had taken refuge in the Chilean diplomatic mission residency, and by Tuesday night was being relocated, alongside his family, to the Spanish Embassy in Caracas.

US: Maduro attempts to flee thwarted

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had claimed Tuesday that Maduro was on the cusp of fleeing to Cuba before being talked into staying by Moscow. Speaking at an event in Washington, DC, on Tuesday night, he said that the US State Department, intelligence community and military were all "very focused on protecting the Venezuelan people, restoring their dignity, growing their economy."

Pompeo said that the US government was "committed to creating democracy here in the Western Hemisphere" and that Venezuela faced "the singularly worst humanitarian crisis, absent conflict, absent war, in the history of the world."

In his televised address Tuesday, Maduro denied Pompeo's claims that he was preparing to abscond, calling them "craziness" and "lies and manipulation."

"Please, Mr. Pompeo, you're not being serious," he said. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also denied the US claims, telling CNN that "Washington tried its best to demoralize the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of information war."

When Guaido announced his alternative government the beginning of the year he was backed by the US and dozens of other nations. Since then, Venezuela -- which is mired in a deep political and humanitarian crisis -- has had two men claiming to be president.

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2019-05-01 08:56:00Z
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Maduro: 'Coup attempt' defeated as police clash with protesters - Aljazeera.com

Demonstrators clashed with police on the streets of the Venezuelan capital on Tuesday, spurred by opposition leader Juan Guaido's call on the military to rise up against President Nicolas Maduro, who said he had defeated an attempted coup.

An apparently carefully planned attempt by Guaido to demonstrate growing military support disintegrated into rioting as palls of black smoke rose over eastern Caracas.

Maduro declared victory on Tuesday evening over the uprising - congratulating the armed forces for having "defeated this small group that intended to spread violence through putschist skirmishes".

"This will not go unpunished," Maduro said in an address broadcast on television and the radio.

"[Prosecutors] will launch criminal prosecutions for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace."

Venezuela: Military vehicle drives into protesters (03:00)

Guaido, in a video posted on Twitter earlier on Tuesday, said he had started the "final phase" of his campaign to remove Maduro from power. He was surrounded by individuals in military uniforms and opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez. 

Guaido said he was at the Caracas airbase La Carlota.

"The time is now," he said. "We are going to achieve freedom and democracy in Venezuela."

Thousands of opposition supporters flocked onto a highway near the airbase, many waving Venezuelan flags, but they were met with gunfire and tear-gas fired by soldiers at the compound's perimeter.

Lopez later entered the Chilean embassy with his wife and one of his children to claim asylum, before moving to the Spanish embassy, Chile's Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero announced in Santiago.

In Caracas, Maduro's supporters rallied, chanting slogans of support while some people were giving out posters of Maduro with the Venezuelan flag behind him.

"Here we are in support of our President Nicolas Maduro, and in support of our beloved homeland ... this is a glorious town and our inheritance is freedom," Areli Rodriguez, 63, a Venezuelan lawyer said from outside the Miraflores Palace, the presidential office.

Other supporters said they went out to support the revolutionary process.

"The opposition in Venezuela is fascist, they do not have the streets, they do not have support and that's why their only alternative is violence, coups," Gabriel Rodriguez, a singer and government supporter in Miraflores said.

A National Guard vehicle ploughed into opposition demonstrators in Caracas on April 30 [Reuters]

Hundreds of opposition supporters also responded to Guaido's call and went out to La Carlota, and other neighbourhoods in Caracas.

"I went out because we need to support the opposition to stop the usurpation of power," Tony Pompa, an opposition supporter told Al Jazeera.

"I believe that by going out to the streets we will show to the world that we are here, and we want an end to this dictatorship," he said.

Meanwhile, Guaido also reiterated his calls for "the largest march in Venezuela's history" on Wednesday.

Venezuela is immersed in a deep economic crisis. Hyperinflation, unemployment and food and medicine shortages have prompted more than three million Venezuelans to leave the country in recent years.

Guaido in January invoked the constitution to declare himself interim president, arguing that Maduro's re-election in 2018 was illegitimate.

The United States and 50 other mostly Western countries have recognised Guaido while Russia, China, Turkey and Cuba back Maduro.

Who is Venezuela's legitimate leader? (10:50)

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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2019-05-01 07:13:00Z
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Maduro: 'Coup attempt' defeated as police clash with protesters - Aljazeera.com

Demonstrators clashed with police on the streets of the Venezuelan capital on Tuesday, spurred by opposition leader Juan Guaido's call on the military to rise up against President Nicolas Maduro, who said he had defeated an attempted coup.

An apparently carefully planned attempt by Guaido to demonstrate growing military support disintegrated into rioting as palls of black smoke rose over eastern Caracas.

Maduro declared victory on Tuesday evening over the uprising - congratulating the armed forces for having "defeated this small group that intended to spread violence through putschist skirmishes".

"This will not go unpunished," Maduro said in an address broadcast on television and the radio.

"[Prosecutors] will launch criminal prosecutions for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace."

Venezuela: Military vehicle drives into protesters (03:00)

Guaido, in a video posted on Twitter earlier on Tuesday, said he had started the "final phase" of his campaign to remove Maduro from power. He was surrounded by individuals in military uniforms and opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez. 

Guaido said he was at the Caracas airbase La Carlota.

"The time is now," he said. "We are going to achieve freedom and democracy in Venezuela."

Thousands of opposition supporters flocked onto a highway near the airbase, many waving Venezuelan flags, but they were met with gunfire and tear-gas fired by soldiers at the compound's perimeter.

Lopez later entered the Chilean embassy with his wife and one of his children to claim asylum, before moving to the Spanish embassy, Chile's Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero announced in Santiago.

In Caracas, Maduro's supporters rallied, chanting slogans of support while some people were giving out posters of Maduro with the Venezuelan flag behind him.

"Here we are in support of our President Nicolas Maduro, and in support of our beloved homeland ... this is a glorious town and our inheritance is freedom," Areli Rodriguez, 63, a Venezuelan lawyer said from outside the Miraflores Palace, the presidential office.

Other supporters said they went out to support the revolutionary process.

"The opposition in Venezuela is fascist, they do not have the streets, they do not have support and that's why their only alternative is violence, coups," Gabriel Rodriguez, a singer and government supporter in Miraflores said.

A National Guard vehicle ploughed into opposition demonstrators in Caracas on April 30 [Reuters]

Hundreds of opposition supporters also responded to Guaido's call and went out to La Carlota, and other neighbourhoods in Caracas.

"I went out because we need to support the opposition to stop the usurpation of power," Tony Pompa, an opposition supporter told Al Jazeera.

"I believe that by going out to the streets we will show to the world that we are here, and we want an end to this dictatorship," he said.

Meanwhile, Guaido also reiterated his calls for "the largest march in Venezuela's history" on Wednesday.

Venezuela is immersed in a deep economic crisis. Hyperinflation, unemployment and food and medicine shortages have prompted more than three million Venezuelans to leave the country in recent years.

Guaido in January invoked the constitution to declare himself interim president, arguing that Maduro's re-election in 2018 was illegitimate.

The United States and 50 other mostly Western countries have recognised Guaido while Russia, China, Turkey and Cuba back Maduro.

Who is Venezuela's legitimate leader? (10:50)

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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2019-05-01 07:05:00Z
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