Venezuelan Senior Official Says Guaido Acknowledged Being Under US Govt Pressure

Jorge Rodriguez, Venezuelan vice-president for communications, culture, and tourism, claimed on Sunday that Juan Guaido, who declared himself the country's interim president on Wednesday, had acknowledged that he was pressured by US politicians.

Rodriguez said that on Tuesday Guaido had met with Venezuelan Constituent Assembly President Diosdado Cabello and Freddy Bernal, a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, in Caracas' Hotel Lido.

"This senor [Guaido] has confessed to Diosdado that he could not stand the pressure from the United States and that [opposition politicians] Leopoldo Lopez and Maria Corina [Machado] were calling him by the phone all the time to convey messages from [US Senator] Marco Rubio and [Colombian President] Ivan Duque," Rodriguez said in a statement released on the website of the government.

Rodriguez has also provided a video featuring a man, resembling Guaido, entering the hotel.

Guaido has denied meeting with Cabello.

On Wednesday, Guaido, the speaker of the opposition-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly, declared himself the country's interim president just one day after the assembly declared President Nicolas Maduro, who has been ruling the country since 2013, a usurper.

Maduro accused Washington, which immediately recognized Guaido as interim president, of staging a coup in Venezuela.

Russia has stressed that it only recognizes Maduro as the legitimately elected Venezuelan president.