Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

Caracas (IP) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is convinced that Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba are real friends of the country as they provide all-round help to Caracas, he said in the Venezuelan Capital Sunday.

Iran Press/America: "Humanitarian aid is coming from China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba. They are Venezuela’s true friends," Maduro said in a speech broadcast by the state TV.

He recalled that the US was offering $20 million worth of help, "but not a single dollar came through".

The political crisis in Venezuela exacerbated on January 23, 2019, when Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been canceled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas.

Several countries, including the United States, most of the EU states, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), Australia, Albania, Georgia, and Israel, as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him.

Incumbent President of the country Nicolas Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US.

In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria, and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.

Despite US officials threatening to block Iranian oil tankers from entering Venezuela, five Iranian oil tankers have docked in Venezuelan ports past month and delivered their fuel to the crisis-hit country.

Five ships, Fortune, Forest, Faxon, Petunia, and the Clavel, carried fuel from Iran to Venezuela.

On May 24, Venezuela's envoy to the UN Samuel Moncada has welcomed the arrival of the first of five Iranian tankers in the Latin American state as a major step in its fight against foreign attacks on its sovereignty.

205/216

Read more:

Iranian oil tanker 'Clavel' escorted by Venezuelan warship

Venezuelan MP stresses vitality of Tehran-Caracas alliance against US