Lima has announced it would annul the visas issued to the Venezuelan diplomats representing President Nicolas Maduro while recognizing a representative of the self-proclaimed interim leader Juan Guaido as the new ambassador.

The visas of Venezuelan embassy staff will be cancelled within a period of 15 days starting from February 22, Peru’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hugo de Zela told the local RPP radio broadcaster on Tuesday. He also said that the diplomats “were already informed” that Lima no longer sees them as representatives of Venezuela.

We are waiting for the deadline to be met and then we will tell them that we consider them illegals.

The deputy minister then announced that Carlos Scull, a man “representing” Venezuela’s self-proclaimed president Juan Guaido, had already presented his credentials to the President Martin Vizcarra. The move apparently marks his formal recognition as an ambassador by Peru.

At the same time, de Zela noted that the Lima Group – an organization consisting of 13 Latin American nations and Canada – does not support the idea of a military operation against the Maduro government in any form.

The transition to democracy must be conducted by the Venezuelans themselves peacefully and within the framework of the Constitution and international law, supported by political and diplomatic means, without the use of force.

His words came as the US amassed its troops and special ops forces in Puerto Rico and Colombia in a move that the Russian Security Council head, Nikolai Patrushev, described as a preparation for an intervention aimed at toppling the Venezuelan leader.

The reported US plans, however, seem to not sit well with some major regional powers. Brazil has recently said that it would never allow its territory to be used by the US military as a staging ground for an invasion into neighboring Venezuela.

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Tensions around Venezuela continue to rise as Caracas refuses to allow the US government-sponsored humanitarian aid into the Latin American state, dismissing the move as a PR stunt and highlighting fears that Washington might use it as an opportunity to smuggle weapons into the country. The border standoff has already led to some clashes between police and protesters.

Maduro himself also recently called out the US for preparing to wage a war over Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. He added that he believes that Washington is deliberately stirring discontent among the Venezuelan people.

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