Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido says he would consider granting amnesty to President Nicolas Maduro and his allies if they helped return Venezuela to democracy.

Guaido gave his first public comments to Univision on Thursday since declaring himself interim president of Venezuela. Guaido’s comments are part of a soon-to-be aired interview that was published on Univision’s website.

The National Assembly leader says that amnesty is on the table for anybody willing to help return Venezuela to constitutional order.

The United States, Canada and more than a dozen Latin American countries have rallied around Guaido.

However, Maduro shows no signs of giving up power, maintaining he was democratically elected.

The socialist leader blames the United States for backing a coup attempt to oust him, and he cut diplomatic ties with Venezuela’s largest trading partner.

The State Department is ordering non-essential diplomats and staff at the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela to leave the country.

The department says it’s taking the step for security reasons and that the embassy in Caracas will stay open.

The move follows the Trump administration’s rejection of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s order to break relations with the U.S. and for American diplomats to depart by the weekend. The administration says Maduro’s order isn’t legal because the U.S. no longer recognizes him as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump recognized the opposition leader and head of Venezuela’s parliament as the interim president. That prompted Maduro to sever relations with Washington.
President Nicolas Maduro has ordered all Venezuelan diplomats home from the United States and is closing its embassy — despite U.S. refusal to do the same in his country.

Maduro said Thursday that if US officials had any sense they would pull out their own diplomats from Caracas rather than defying his order to leave.

The Trump administration says Maduro is not now legally president of Venezuela because of a fraudulent election. It recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido, who assumed presidential authority and vowed to remove Maduro.

The US also had snubbed Maduro’s decision to cut diplomatic ties with the United States, saying he doesn’t have the authority to expel U.S. diplomats.

The two countries haven’t exchanged ambassadors in nearly a decade, but they have maintained diplomatic staff.