CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in to a second term Thursday amid international calls for him to step down and a devastating economic crisis.

Seventeen Latin American governments, the United States and Canada rejected the legitimacy of Maduro’s next term in a measure adopted Thursday. Most countries from Europe and Latin American didn’t send representatives to the swearing-in.

But Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Bolivian President Evo Morales and President Anatoli Bibilov of a breakaway province of Georgia were among the few foreign leaders who attended the ceremony at the country’s Supreme Court.

In a speech after his swearing-in, Maduro claimed 94 countries had sent representatives to his inauguration. He vowed to continue the legacy of the late President Hugo Chavez and accused the United States of trying to ignite unrest through its increasing economic sanctions.

“Venezuela is the center of a world war led by the North American imperialists and its allies,” Maduro said. “They have tried to convert a normal inauguration into a world war.”

Maduro’s second term extends Venezuela’s socialist revolution amid widespread complaints that he has stripped Venezuela of its last vestiges of democracy.

Maduro denies that he’s a dictator and often blames President Trump for leading an economic war against Venezuela that’s destroying the country.

The Organization of American States voted not to recognize Maduro’s legitimacy, adopting a resolution Thursday presented by Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the United States, Paraguay and Peru. The move was denounced by Venezuela’s ambassador to the OAS, Samuel Moncada, as “a hostile act ... against the will of our nation.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the United States will keep up pressure in support of the Venezuelan people.

The economic collapse has left the nation of roughly 30 million in the throes of a historic crisis.

An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled their nation’s hyperinflation, food and medical shortages over the past two years, according to the United Nations. Those remaining live on a monthly minimum wage equal to less than $5 and falling daily. Critics blame years of rampant corruption and mismanagement of the state-run oil firm PDVSA.</s>CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will be sworn in to a second term Thursday amid international calls for him to step down and a devastating economic crisis, but with some long-time friends in attendance both from abroad and at home.

A dozen Latin American governments and Canada in a coalition have rejected the legitimacy of Maduro's next term, and Washington has sanctioned top officials in his government, but Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Bolivian President Evo Morales were coming to Caracas to show their support.

And while Maduro's popularity has plunged amid scarcities, hyperinflation and rising authoritarianism that have sparked a mass emigration, supporters who receive government subsidies in shantytowns continue to back the man who took over for the late Hugo Chavez.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro holds a press conference with foreign media at Miraflores presidential palace where an image of Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar is displayed in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019. Maduro will be sworn-in for a second, six-year term on Thursday. (AP Photo/Boris Vergara)</s>CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro started a second term in office on Thursday, shrugging off international criticism that his reelection last year was illegitimate but facing further isolation as an economic crisis fuels a humanitarian emergency.

The country’s pro-government Supreme Court, which has largely supplanted the opposition-run Congress, swore him in following a triumphant welcome with a symphony orchestra and cheering supporters waving miniature Venezuelan flags.

The ceremony contrasted with the harsh realities that face the former bus driver turned socialist leader including growing diplomatic pressure, an economy in collapse, and an exodus of millions of citizens seeking to escape hardship.

“I swear on the legacy of Hugo Chavez ... that I will meet all of my duties under the constitution,” Maduro said.

Supreme Court Chief Maikel Moreno dedicated nearly 20 minutes to explaining why Maduro was not being sworn in by congress, which the ruling Socialist Party has systematically ignored since the opposition took control of the body in 2016.

Opposition leaders have portrayed the inauguration as the moment at which Maduro will be internationally branded a dictator following a widely boycotted 2018 election that many foreign governments described as a farce.

But continued support from the military, a fractured opposition and a relentless crackdown on opposition critics means that Maduro appears to face few serious challenges at home, despite the international outcry.

Maduro’s first agenda item for his second term is a ceremony at Venezuela’s military academy, a telling symbol of the importance of armed forces.

Supporters, many of whom were public servants identified by t-shirts of state agencies, rallied in the center of Caracas to celebrate the new term. Some said Maduro should do more to crack down on business leaders for raising prices.

“Sometimes its hard to find food because businesses hide it and then say its the president’s fault, even though we all know that’s a lie,” said Graciela Laya, 43, a homemaker, at a rally near the Supreme Court.

He won re-election last year despite hyperinflation, chronic food shortages and a severe economic contraction. He blames an “economic war” led by the United States and local opposition adversaries for the country’s woes.

The vast majority of the opposition boycotted last year’s vote on the grounds that it was rigged in favor of Maduro, noting a host of irregularities including Socialist Party tents in which activists offered monetary payments to voters.

The United States and many Latin American and European countries condemned the vote, leaving Maduro backed by just a handful of stalwart allies from leftist governments.

Most countries plan to maintain their embassies and diplomatic relations with Venezuela, according to sources consulted by Reuters, but most European and Latin American countries did not send diplomats to the inauguration.

“To the few representatives of governments that are in the country: look at the regime’s economic, social and political indicators,” wrote opposition leader Henrique Capriles via Twitter. “Maduro is illegitimate because there have not been free elections, and he’s also illegitimate in his performance.”

Opposition activists have called for protests on Thursday. Authorities have responded by filling streets with police checkpoints and rifle-toting troops.

“This inauguration is illegal,” said Jose Navarro, 17, a student at a small anti-government protest in the restive western city of San Cristobal. “And this military deployment is also an offense to the constitution.”

While politically motivated demonstrations have faded, protests take place nearly every day to demand salary improvements, access to food and medicine, or improvements to erratic power and water services.

But many worry the inauguration will not change anything.

“I’m just trying to get a few more documents together so I can leave the country,” said Angela Perez, 26, who works the cash register at a fast-food restaurant in the city of Valencia. “There’s no future here. It’s sad but true.”</s>CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will be sworn in to a second term Thursday amid international calls for him to step down and a devastating economic crisis, but with some long-time friends in attendance both from abroad and at home.

A dozen Latin American governments and Canada in a coalition have rejected the legitimacy of Maduro’s next term, and Washington has sanctioned top officials in his government, but Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Bolivian President Evo Morales were coming to Caracas to show their support.

And while Maduro’s popularity has plunged amid scarcities, hyperinflation and rising authoritarianism that have sparked a mass emigration, supporters who receive government subsidies in shantytowns continue to back the man who took over for the late Hugo Chavez.</s>CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will be sworn in to a second term Thursday amid international calls for him to step down and a devastating economic crisis, but with some long-time friends in attendance both from abroad and at home.

A dozen Latin American governments and Canada in a coalition have rejected the legitimacy of Maduro’s next term, and Washington has sanctioned top officials in his government, but Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Bolivian President Evo Morales were coming to Caracas to show their support.

And while Maduro’s popularity has plunged amid scarcities, hyperinflation and rising authoritarianism that have sparked a mass emigration, supporters who receive government subsidies in shantytowns continue to back the man who took over for the late Hugo Chavez.

“It’s not the president’s fault,” said Frances Velazquez, a 43-year-old mother of two who survives on government-subsidized boxes of rice, flour and cooking oil. Velazquez blamed opportunists who drive up the prices on scarce items making life difficult for families like hers.

Others, like construction worker Ramon Bermudez, have lost hope of escaping Maduro’s rule and planned on hunkering down at home for the inauguration.

“All that’s left to do is raise your hand to heaven and ask God to help us,” said Bermudez, camped out on a Caracas sidewalk with hundreds of others waiting for gas. “There’s nothing more.”

Maduro’s second term will extend Venezuela’s socialist revolution amid widespread complaints that he has stripped Venezuela of its last vestiges of democracy.

Maduro denies that he’s a dictator and often blames President Donald Trump of leading an economic war against Venezuela that’s destroying the country.

“Not before, not now, nor will there ever be a dictatorship in Venezuela,” Maduro said in a Wednesday news conference.

Bermudez, 52, disagrees and points out the irony of living in a nation with the world’s most abundant oil reserves yet having to wait in line overnight recently to fill three canisters of natural gas to cook at home.

Oil-rich Venezuela was once among Latin America’s wealthiest nations. It produced 3.5 million barrels of crude daily when Chavez took power. Output now has plummeted to less than a third of that. Critics blame years of rampant corruption and mismanagement of the state-run oil firm PDVSA.

The economic collapse has left the nation of roughly 30 million in the throes of a historic crisis.

An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled their nation’s hyperinflation, food and medical shortages over the last two years, according to the United Nations. Those remaining live on a monthly minimum wage equal to less than $5 and falling daily.

Venezuela’s splintered opposition movement has failed to counter the socialist party’s dominance. Maduro’s government has jailed or driven into exile its most popular leaders.

Anti-government politicians successfully rallied thousands to the streets across Venezuela for four months of demonstrations in 2017, when clashes with government forces left more than 120 protesters dead and thousands injured. Maduro remained squarely in power.

In May, he declared victory in presidential election that his political opponents and many foreign nations consider illegitimate because popular opponents were banned from running and the largest anti-government parties boycotted the race.

The opposition-led Congress opened its session for the year this week, led by 35-year-old Juan Guaido, who vowed to battle against Maduro. Guaido said Maduro is “usurping the presidency.”

The Trump administration has increased pressure on Maduro through financial sanctions, this week singling out powerful Venezuelan media magnate Raul Gorrin. U.S. banks are also banned from doing business with Venezuela, putting a financial strangle-hold on the cash-strapped country.

David Smile, Tulane University expert on Venezuela, said that this isn’t likely to create change. Ultimately, Maduro’s government isn’t worried about its international reputation, Smilde said.

“He still has control of the institutions,” Smilde said of Maduro. “He has the guns. He has the money.”

Bermudez had waited to refill his gas canisters in a line of roughly 500 people that wrapped around a children’s playground in El Valle, a poor corner of Venezuela’s capital.

One by one, they came down from hillside neighbourhoods and took their place in line, waiting for a truck to deliver natural gas. Then they’d carry it home. Bermudez lives with his wife and two children but said many parents have bid farewell to their children rather than endure the crisis.

“Sadly, I have many neighbours who have cried and have seen their children depart for other countries in search of a future,” he said. “They’re looking to improve their lives, having lost hope.”</s>Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in for a second term amid international calls for him to step down and a devastating economic crisis. Seventeen Latin American governments, the United States and Canada rejected the legitimacy of Mr Maduro’s next term in a measure adopted on Thursday. Most countries from Europe and Latin American did not send representatives to the swearing-in. But Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Bolivian President Evo Morales and President Anatoli Bibilov of a breakaway province of Georgia were among the few foreign leaders who attended the ceremony at the country’s Supreme Court.

In a speech after his swearing-in, Mr Maduro claimed 94 countries had sent representatives to his inauguration. He vowed to continue the legacy of the late president Hugo Chavez and accused the United States of trying to ignite unrest through its increasing economic sanctions. “Venezuela is the centre of a world war led by the North American imperialists and its allies,” said Mr Maduro, a former bus driver. “They have tried to convert a normal inauguration into a world war.”

Mr Maduro’s second term extends Venezuela’s socialist revolution amid widespread complaints that he has stripped the country of its last vestiges of democracy. Mr Maduro, 56, denies that he is a dictator and often blames President Donald Trump for leading an economic war against Venezuela that is destroying the country. The Organisation of American States voted not to recognise Mr Maduro’s legitimacy, adopting a resolution presented by Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the United States, Paraguay and Peru. The move was denounced by Venezuela’s ambassador to the OAS, Samuel Moncada, as “a hostile act … against the will of our nation”.

President Mario Abdo Benitez said his country “in the exercise of its constitutional powers and national sovereignty, adopts the decision to break diplomatic relations with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the United States will keep up pressure in support of the Venezuelan people. “It is time for Venezuelan leaders to make a choice,” Mr Pompeo said, urging Maduro supporters to be on the right side of history. “Now is the time to convince the Maduro dictatorship that the moment has arrived for democracy to return to Venezuela.”</s>Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in for a second term amid international calls for him to step down and a devastating economic crisis.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in for a second term amid international calls for him to step down and a devastating economic crisis.

Nicolas Maduro sworn in for second term as Venezuela’s president

Seventeen Latin American governments, the United States and Canada rejected the legitimacy of Mr Maduro’s next term in a measure adopted on Thursday.

Most countries from Europe and Latin American did not send representatives to the swearing-in.

But Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Bolivian President Evo Morales and President Anatoli Bibilov of a breakaway province of Georgia were among the few foreign leaders who attended the ceremony at the country’s Supreme Court.

In a speech after his swearing-in, Mr Maduro claimed 94 countries had sent representatives to his inauguration.

He vowed to continue the legacy of the late president Hugo Chavez and accused the United States of trying to ignite unrest through its increasing economic sanctions.

“Venezuela is the centre of a world war led by the North American imperialists and its allies,” said Mr Maduro, a former bus driver.

“They have tried to convert a normal inauguration into a world war.”

Mr Maduro’s second term extends Venezuela’s socialist revolution amid widespread complaints that he has stripped the country of its last vestiges of democracy.

Mr Maduro, 56, denies that he is a dictator and often blames President Donald Trump for leading an economic war against Venezuela that is destroying the country.

The Organisation of American States voted not to recognise Mr Maduro’s legitimacy, adopting a resolution presented by Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the United States, Paraguay and Peru.

The move was denounced by Venezuela’s ambassador to the OAS, Samuel Moncada, as “a hostile act … against the will of our nation”.

President Mario Abdo Benitez said his country “in the exercise of its constitutional powers and national sovereignty, adopts the decision to break diplomatic relations with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela”.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the United States will keep up pressure in support of the Venezuelan people.

“It is time for Venezuelan leaders to make a choice,” Mr Pompeo said, urging Maduro supporters to be on the right side of history.

“Now is the time to convince the Maduro dictatorship that the moment has arrived for democracy to return to Venezuela.”

Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri also denounced Mr Maduro, saying he lacks the authenticity won through honest elections despite Thursday’s elaborate inauguration ceremony and any other “tricks”.

“Nicolas Maduro today is making a mockery of democracy”, Mr Macri said on Twitter.

“Venezuelans know it, the world knows it. Venezuela lives under a dictatorship.”

Oil-rich Venezuela was once among Latin America’s wealthiest nations.

It produced 3.5 million barrels of crude daily when Mr Chavez took power.

Output now has plummeted to less than a third of that.

Critics blame years of rampant corruption and mismanagement of the state-run oil firm PDVSA.</s>Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in Thursday for a second term, amid cheers and applause by a crowd of hundreds attending the inauguration in Caracas.

Maduro, 56, was sworn in by Supreme Court president Maikel Moreno.

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay attended the swearing-in ceremony as an envoy of Turkey's goodwill toward Venezuela.

The ceremony was boycotted by the European Union, United States and Venezuela's South American neighbors, who have branded Maduro's leadership illegitimate.

Maduro won a second term in office in May.

The 55-year-old won some 5.8 million votes, or 68 percent of the total, while main opposition candidate Henri Falcon won 1.8 million votes or 21.2 percent.

Turnout was around 46 percent — the lowest in a presidential race in two decades of revolution. About 20.5 million people were eligible to vote, but many analysts predicted a low turnout after the opposition alliance Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) called on voters to boycott the poll.</s>CARACAS, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was sworn into a new term in office on Thursday by the nation’s Supreme Court, shrugging off global criticism that his leadership is illegitimate due to a last year’s disputed election. (Reporting by Brian Ellsworth)</s>CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The Latest on the second-term inauguration of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (all times local):

The leader of Brazil's Workers' Party is under fire by some fellow leftists for attending the second-term inauguration of socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The criticism on Sen. Gleisi Hoffmann adds to divisions in Brazil's opposition in confronting new, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro is among the harshest of many critics of Maduro, whose election last year was widely considered undemocratic, even among many on the left. Bolsonaro calls him a dictator.

Hoffmann said in a letter she wants to counter Bolsonaro's aggressive rhetoric against Maduro, whose party had a close relationship with Brazil's Workers Party for years.

Several left-leaning politicians criticized the visit. Former presidential candidate Luciana Genro said: "Only a corroded left can support Maduro at this time." Writer Marcelo Rubens Paiva called it "a monstrous stupidity."

Paraguay's president says his country has broken diplomatic relations with Venezuela because it doesn't recognize the legitimacy of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's re-election.

The announcement came almost immediately after Maduro took the oath of office in Caracas.

Paraguay's Mario Abdo Benitez said his country is closing its embassy in Venezuela and immediately withdrawing its diplomats.

The Organization of American States has voted not to recognize the legitimacy of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has just taken the oath of office for a second six-year term.

The organization's Permanent Council took the vote in Washington, adopting a resolution presented by Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the United States, Paraguay and Peru.

Venezuela's Ambassador Samuel Moncada called the measure adopted Thursday "a hostile act ... against the will of our nation."

The vote was 19 in favor, eight abstentions and six against.

Many nations have denounced Maduro's recent re-election as profoundly unfair.

Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro has taken the oath of office for his second six-year term.

Thursday's swearing-in comes amid widespread international condemnation over allegations that his election was undemocratic.

In his remarks, Maduro vowed to continue the socialist revolution under way for two decades.

Maduro's popularity has plunged amid scarcities of basic goods, hyperinflation and rising authoritarianism that have sparked a mass emigration.

A the United States and a dozen Latin American countries reject Maduro's legitimacy, saying he rigged the election granting him another six-year term.

Presidents of Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua attended the inauguration to support Maduro.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is being sworn in to a second term Thursday amid international calls for him to step down and a devastating economic crisis. But there will be some long-time friends in attendance both from abroad and at home.

A dozen Latin American governments and Canada have rejected the legitimacy of Maduro's next term, and Washington has sanctioned top officials in his government. But Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Bolivian President Evo Morales are coming to Caracas to show their support.

Maduro's popularity has plunged amid scarcities, hyperinflation and rising authoritarianism that have sparked a mass emigration. Still, supporters who receive government subsidies in shantytowns continue to back the man who took over for the late Hugo Chavez.
Nicolás Maduro is sworn in for his second term as President of Venezuela amid widespread condemnation over his election as "illegitimate".