Venezuelan army rejects 'self-proclaimed president'

File photo: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro gestures during a military parade to celebrate the 197th anniversary of the Battle of Carabobo, next to his wife Cilia Flores and Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, in Campo de Carabobo, Venezuela

Army defends Constitution, guarantor of national sovereignty, says defense minister

Venezuelan army will not accept an imposed president of the republic, the nation's defense minister said Wednesday, after an opposition leader declared himself as interim president.

"Despair and intolerance threaten the peace of the Nation. The soldiers of the homeland do not accept a president imposed in the shadow of obscure interests or self-proclaimed outside the law," Vladimir Padrino Lopez said in a statement on Twitter before demonstrations Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump also recognized the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president of the country, marking the most significant escalation in the ongoing feud between Washington and Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido is the president of Venezuela's National Assembly, which Maduro stripped of its power and refuses to recognize amid continued international recognition.

The Bolivarian National Armed Forces, or FANB, defends the Venezuela's Constitution "and is the guarantor of national sovereignty," Lopez wrote.

Maduro has repeatedly lashed out at the U.S., saying Washington is waging an economic war against him and his government amid a sweeping sanctions campaign.

Venezuela has been rocked by protests since Jan. 10 when Maduro was sworn in for a second term following a vote boycotted by the opposition.