In a Friday evening state television broadcast, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said Maduro would take office on Jan. 10 in a “legitimate and constitutional” process, which he said “does not require the approval of any foreign government.”

He said Venezuela was “perplexed” by the statement and that the country would take reciprocal action for diplomatic steps taken by any other government. A coalition of international leaders gather in Lima to define a strategy for resolving Venezuela's growing crisis ahead of President Nicolas Maduro's Jan. 10 inauguration to a second term, which is widely dismissed as illegitimate. The 13 remaining countries in the Lima Group that signed Friday’s statement, which include Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia, called Maduro’s new term “illegitimate” and urged him to hand power over to the National Assembly until democratic elections can be held. In the statement, the Lima Group urged Maduro to refrain from taking the presidential oath next Thursday and instead cede power to the opposition- controlled congress until new, fairer elections can be held. Reacting to media reports that US State Secretary Mike Pompeo took part in the meeting via teleconference, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza slammed the 14-member group for taking orders from US President Donald Trump.
The Lima Group announces that from January 10, 2019, the government of Nicolás Maduro will no longer be recognized by the governments which compose the multilateral body.