"Perhaps, when this process began, someone behind it did not think that Maduro would be able to show resistance", Borrell told Sexta broadcaster.
The statement comes after protests and violent clashes between the Venezuelan security officers and protesters that erupted in late February along the Venezuelan borders after the Venezuelan opposition tried to forcefully bring in the so-called humanitarian aid from a hub in Brazil and in Colombia, in defiance of Caracas' ban on accepting US-sponsored aid.
On 5 January, lawmaker Juan Guaido was elected the head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, which all other government branches have been refusing to recognize since 2016. On 23 January, two days after the Venezuelan Supreme Court annulled his election, Guaido declared himself the country's "interim president." Maduro qualified Guaido's move as an attempt to stage a coup orchestrated by Washington.
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Spain was among the countries that recognized US-backed opposition leader Guiado as interim president of Venezuela, prompting an angry response from democratically-elected president Maduro.