The United States said Thursday it was revoking visas of Venezuelan lawmakers seated by President Nicolas Maduro as it criticised European and Latin American countries for seeking dialogue with the embattled leader.
The United States has recognised Juan Guaido, the head of the opposition-led National Assembly, as the interim president of the economically troubled nation.
President Maduro rejects the elected body’s authority and in 2017 paved the way for a rival Constituent Assembly, whose members are stacked with supporters of the leftist firebrand after the opposition boycotted the vote.
Elliot Abrams, the new US envoy on the Venezuelan crisis, said that Washington was revoking the visas of an unspecified number of members of the Constituent Assembly.
He also denounced a meeting in Montevideo of ministers from more than a dozen European and Latin American countries who are seeking a mediated path to end Venezuela’s standoff.
