Italy’s government coalition division blocked joint EU position on Guaido

Italy on Monday blocked a joint EU position to recognize Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president, diplomatic sources said, with the government in Rome deeply divided over the issue.

Guaido said in a newspaper interview published on Monday he would do all he could to secure Rome’s backing, but Italy’s coalition parties took opposing positions.

Alessandro Di Battista, a prominent figure in one of them, the 5-Star Movement, said: “Handing out ultimatums, sanctions, freezing Venezuelan goods … It would mean opening the road to a military intervention.

“The 5-Star Movement and this government will never recognize people who appoint themselves president.”

The other coalition party, the far-right League party, has come out strongly in favor of Guaido and acknowledged that attempts to find common cause with 5-Star had so far failed.

“Our (coalition) allies think we need to act gradually and be more prudent,” League head, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, told Rete 4 television.

Reuters