Times are tough all over, and apparently one of the more critical issues in the world today is distinguishing the proper title of Venezuela’s Juan Guaidó. On Tuesday, the State Department’s deputy spokesman, Robert Palladino, took a few minutes at the top of the intermittently-twice-a-week briefing to upbraid reporters whose news organizations refer to Guaidó as either the opposition leader of Venezuela, or the country’s self-proclaimed president. “To refer to Juan Guaidó as anything other than the interim president falls into the narrative of a dictator who has usurped the position of the presidency and led Venezuela to the humanitarian and political and economic crisis that exists today,” Palladino said sternly. While 54 countries have recognized Guaidó as interim president, that is less than a third of the world’s 190-plus countries. A few hours before Palladino spoke, Rubio tweeted, “In order to undermine the constitutional basis for @jguaido interim Presidency, #Putin’s #Russia repeatedly describes him as the “self proclaimed” President of #Venezuela.

Source: Washington Post March 05, 2019 22:55 UTC