"I would like to inform you that last night, I was summoned by the Honduran Foreign Ministry, where they read to me a statement saying that [the authorities] did not recognize me as the ambassador any more and they notified me that I should leave the country together with my family in the course of five days", Duran said as quoted by the Heraldo newspaper.
The outlet added that Duran had informed the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry about the meeting. The ministry, in its turn, asked the ambassador to return to Venezuela in the course of the indicated period and noted that "Honduras, unfortunately, does not respect any international law or established protocols".
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On 23 January, Guaido, the speaker of the opposition-led legislature, proclaimed himself the country’s interim president. The opposition figure was supported by the United States and a number of other countries, while Russia, China, Mexico, Iran, Turkey and several other states backed constitutionally elected Maduro as Venezuela's only president.
On Monday, the United States blocked all of PDVSA's assets in its jurisdiction and imposed a ban on making deals with the company. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that by blocking PDVSA's assets, the United States was taking care of this company in the interests of the people of Venezuela and also protecting its own market.
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Mexico and Uruguay announced earlier in a joint statement about an urgent conference on Venezuelan crisis slated for 7 February in Montevideo. The event is expected to bring together senior officials from over 10 countries and international organizations.