During his visit to Panama, Pope Francis has called for a "˜just and peaceful" solution to the crisis in Venezuela, as reported by Aciprensa on 27 January 2019. Protests against President Maduro taking up his second term of presidency became violent and the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, announced that he would take control as interim president (as reported by Reuters on 23 January 2019). President Maduro, who - according to the New York Times reporting on 24 January 2019 - continues to have the full backing of the Bolivarian National Guard and senior army officers accused his rival of trying to stage a coup d'ƒ©tat. The USA was the first to recognize Juan Guaidƒ³ as interim president, along with the UN, EU, Organization of American States, the Lima Group and 22 other countries, as reported by Univision on 25 January 2019. Countries supporting President Maduro include Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, China, Russia and Mexico, according to The Guardian reporting on 24 January 2019.
Rossana Ramirez, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, gives some further background information: "On 10 January 2019, Nicolas Maduro began his second term as president of a country facing shortages in food and medicines, hyperinflation, mass emigration and rising levels of violence, crime, corruption and impunity, as reported by BBC News on 27 January 2019. Despite the decision by the legislative chamber not to recognize Maduro as president due to indications of fraud in the election process (as reported by The Straits times on 6 January 2019), Maduro took office and in response, thousands of protestors took to the streets and clashed with security forces (as reported by BBC News on 24 January 2019). Of the countries continuing to support Maduro, virtually all have governments where democracy is weak."
Rossana Ramirez continues: "Whereas the Pope has called for a just and peaceful solution to the crisis, the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference has gone further and openly expressed its opposition to the regime of Maduro (Gaudium Press, 11 January 2019) and has demanded an end to all violence and repression (Aleteia, 26 January 2019). Some churches have been providing shelter for protesters (Efecto Cocuyo, 24 January 2019) and have been surrounded by soldiers belonging to the Bolivarian National Guard after being refused entry (Aciprensa, 23 January 2019). One church was broken into by an armed group during worship. The government supporters fired shots and physically assaulted the Roman Catholic priest and other church staff (Aciprensa, 28 January 2019). At least one Catholic priest has told media that he is a "˜marked man" and that the Bolivarian Circle (a.k.a. "˜the assassins of Maduro") are monitoring his preaching and church activities (Cope, 24 January 2019)."
