Address comes after EU countries and US throw weight behind challenger Juan Guaidó

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Nicolás Maduro has hit back at the “cowardly” and “disastrous” decision of a succession of European countries to recognise his rival, Juan Guaidó, as interim president, as Venezuela enters what many observers believe could be a critical week in its fast-escalating political crisis.

Addressing a military rally in the northern state of Aragua, Maduro said he was the target of a “gringo” plot to overthrow the Bolivarian revolution he had inherited from his political mentor, Hugo Chávez, after his death in 2013.

“I, Nicolás Maduro Moros, the legitimate and constitutional president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, swear … that I will defend with my very own life this homeland of Venezuela,” he vowed.

EU countries recognise Juan Guaidó as interim Venezuelan leader Read more

“We will never, ever hand over our country … The people will never surrender.”

Speaking after EU nations including Britain, Germany, Portugal and Spain, said they were throwing their weight behind his challenger, Maduro said his country was facing a historic test.

Rejecting calls for fresh presidential elections, he said: “I will carry on governing, together with the people, for the six years I have the right to govern for.”

On Monday 11 of 14 members of the Lima Group, a coalition of Latin American nations and Canada, also released a statement recognising Guaidó as Venezuela’s rightful leader.

Maduro reserved particular venom for Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who was among the first to announce that his country was turning its back on “Maduro’s regime”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Maduro on Monday. Photograph: Press Miraflores Handout/EPA

“Spain’s cowardly government has taken a disastrous decision … and I say to señor Pedro Sánchez, God doesn’t want this, but if one day a coup comes to pass, if one day a gringo military intervention comes to pass, your hands … will be covered in blood just as the hands of José María Aznar [Spanish PM from 1996 to 2004] were covered in blood in the Iraq war.

“History will remember you as a dummy who put himself at the service of the … interventionist policies of Donald Trump.

“Do we accept being given ultimatums in Venezuela?” Maduro bellowed. “No,” the crowd shouted back.

“We are nobody’s tramps … Do you want to transform our homeland into a colony of tramps? Do you want to see our homeland turned into a colony of slaves and tramps?” he asked.

Maduro also accused Trump – who on Sunday repeated that military action was an option – of being obsessed with invading Venezuela.

“He thinks that we can be intimidated. No … What is the causa belli that Donald Trump has to declare a military war on Venezuela. What is the cause? Is it oil? Is it iron? Is it aluminium? Is it gold or diamonds? Is it gas? Water? What is the cause?” Maduro asked.

Venezuela’s embattled leader also had ominous words for members of Venezuela’s newly emboldened opposition, accusing them of selling their souls to “the imperialist devil”.

Venezuela now needed to react like a skilled boxer, winding its opponent with a series of powerful blows: “Left, right, left, left, left, right, left. With both hands,” Maduro said.

“Let’s knock out … the traitors, the coup-mongers and those who call for a gringo intervention in Venezuela,” he added, to loud applause.

“[We] will defend our homeland with our own lives if necessary,” Maduro told supporters who had gathered to celebrate the 27th anniversary of the failed 1992 coup that catapulted Chávez to fame.

Maduro’s foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, said the European governments had “once again yielded to the US government strategy,” and warned that Venezuela would “revise” its relations with countries which recognized Guaidó.

“These governments are taking the side of the most extreme segment of the Venezuelan right, which – acting under the direction of Washington – is desperately seeking to take political power,” he said in a statement.

In an interview broadcast by Italy’s SkyTG24 television on Monday, Maduro said he had written to the pope asking for him to mediate.

“I told him that I serve Christ’s cause and in this spirit I asked for his help, in a process of facilitating and strengthening dialogue,” he told the station.

“I ask the pope to put in his best effort, his will, to help on the path of dialogue. I hope to receive a positive response,” he said.

The pope is currently on a visit to the United Arab Emirates and is due to return to Rome on Tuesday.