In a Thursday interview for the Spanish El Pais daily, Venezuela's interim president Juan Guaido said that Poland's political transformation after the fall of communism in 1989 could be one of the models for building new state structures in his country.

Mr Guaido stated that after the collapse of the regime of President Nicolas Maduro, a plan of the reconstruction of the country should be prepared. He stressed the role of the grassroots social movements that no longer want to live in an anti-democratic country.



“A political transformation cannot be approved just by a decree, but the process is carrying on thanks to the political power that can overthrow the dictatorship and move towards democracy. There have been several such examples in the history of the world: Poland, Venezuela in 1958, or Chile. Now, we have an opportunity to achieve a similar transformation in a short time,” he added.



In late January, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of many Venezuelan cities demanding the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro and his government. The leader of the Venezuelan opposition, the chairman of the democratically elected parliament, Juan Guaido, declared himself the temporary president of the country.



Later, the European Union called on the Venezuelan authorities to respect civil rights and freedom, as well as to guarantee the security of Mr Guaido, but refrained from recognising him as temporary president.