Venezuela faces mounting international pressure as its economy is in a downward spiral, which the  government has been struggling to reverse.

In January, opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself the country's rightful president, accusing President Nicolas Maduro of rigging elections. Then in April, Guaido called on the entire country and the military to overthrow Maduro and that attempt failed.

More than fifty countries recognize Guaido as the country's legitimate president, as Venezuela faces economic despair. An estimated nearly there million Venezuelans have left the country because of shortages of food, water, electricity and medicine.

The grave situation in Venezuela right now seems to be a standoff between Maduro and Guaido. Temir Porras thinks the crisis can only be resolved through a sovereign management solution. Temir served as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Chavez government and later became Chief of Staff for Maduro. He's currently a visiting professor at Sciences Po Paris.

Temir considers Guaido's proclamation as president is not satisfactory; it got strong resistance from Venezuela military. "Today we need some negotiation inside the country for the different factions to agree on a way out of the crisis," says Temir.

Talks are underway between Venezuela's government and the opposition in Norway. Temir cannot confirm these talks, but he considers the efforts of the Norwegian government to bring both parties together are positive. "There need to be some additional efforts in Venezuela," he adds, "we need to find a social and political base inside the country and most notably we need the Venezuela military to endorse a political solution." In Temir's view, today the reflex of polarization inherited from the Chavez era still remains, but what the most of the Venezuelans interest in is who is the one can really solve their problem.

Venezuela has the biggest known reserves of oil in the world, but this country still suffers economic depression. Temir explains that oil is potential wealth, and it needs investment and a stable environment to exploit. On the one hand, due to the irresponsibility of the Venezuela political elites, the government cannot offer legal guarantees for foreign investors to come to the country. 

On the other hand, the geopolitical struggle is also a reason. "The different U.S. governments have extremely aggressive with the Chavez administration and have imposed sanctions," says Temir, "that makes it impossible for foreign investors to even consider in investing in Venezuela."

In terms of the leadership in Venezuela, Temir suggests they reorganize elections and have an elected leadership taking over the country. But the problem is, Juan Guaido wants to take over the leadership without a legal election.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov squared off this week over Venezuela's political crisis. The United States is calling for Maduro to step down, while Russia supports the Maduro government and has sent military personnel to the South American country.

Lucas Koerner, who is a Caracas-based political analyst and editor for the independent news website, venezuelanalysis.com, thinks it is a very difficult situation between the moderate faction who support dialogue and negotiation and the hardliners in the Trump administration who are actively pushing dangerous sanctions and military confrontation. 

Jose Aristimuño, the CEO of the consulting firm NOW Strategies and consultant to some key officials with ties to Guaido, believes Juan Guaido is looking for a transition, a full democracy and free elections in Venezuela. He argues the last year election was illegal.

But Lucas thinks the former election was unfair only because the U.S. intervened to threaten the sanctions on the opposition candidate. “I observed voting centers throughout Caracas and none of the people reported any real irregularities,” he says. He believes Venezuela has the most transparent electoral system in the world. The United States has no democratic credentials to be intervening in Venezuela.

Jose indicates Maduro tried to rush through the election, push through his government, and it failed. "Maduro has fewer than 15 percent of support right now in Venezuela, the days of Maduro are pretty much over," he asserts.

Jose doesn't think Juan Guaido's attempts have failed because people can see Juan Guaido has been making progress day in and day out. "More humanitarian aid is going through Venezuela every day, and more military officials are going to the right side of history," he adds.

Lucas has the opposite opinion. He thinks the majority of the countries in the world still continue to have relationships with Maduro. The economic crisis is very deep; unfortunately, the governments' measures produced very little effect. However, the number one obstacle to improving the economic situation in Venezuela is U.S. sanctions, not the Maduro administration. He thinks the Maduro administration should take steps to increase oil production and improve the economic situation.

In Jose's opinion, the only way to solve the problem and avoid the intervention is by asking Maduro steps aside and letting Juan Guaido call for transparent elections. But Lucas believes the support base of Maduro is still very strong, that not because people love Maduro but because this is the opposition has consistently demonized the military.

The Heat with Anand Naidoo is a 30-minute political talk show on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 7:00 a.m. BJT and 6:00 p.m. Eastern in the United States

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