VENEZUELAN would-be presidential usurper Juan Guaido claimed to have held secret talks with the country’s armed forces in his bid to bring down the democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro.

Writing in the New York Times, the leader of the defunct National Assembly said he had held clandestine talks with military chiefs over the last few days, adding their support was key to ousting Mr Maduro.

“The military’s withdrawal of support from Mr Maduro is ­crucial to enabling a change in government, and the majority of those in service agree that the country’s recent travails are untenable.

“The transition will require support from key military contingents. We have had clandestine meetings with members of the security forces,” he wrote.

Mr Guaido illegally declared himself “interim president” of Venezuela hours after Mr Maduro’s inauguration on January 11, a move swiftly recognised by Washington and its imperialist lackeys.

His bid for the Venezuelan leadership was dealt a blow after the country’s top military brass pledged allegiance to Mr Maduro and vowed to oppose any attempt to topple him.

Imperialist countries have been ramping up the pressure on Venezuela.

Earlier this week US war hawk John Bolton was caught with a notepad with “5,000 troops to Colombia” written on it, raising fears of a ground invasion.

On Wednesday a group of defectors called on the US to provide them arms to launch an insurrection from inside Venezuela.

However Mr Maduro took to Facebook warning in a message to the people of the US that any invasion of Venezuela would end up being worse than the failed war in Vietnam.

He warned of “the media war and psychological communication that takes place in the international media, especially in the US media, against Venezuela.

“I call on the conscience, I call on your solidarity, I call on you to an awakening of the truth: we will not allow a Vietnam in Latin America. If the United States intends to intervene, they will have a Vietnam worse than you could ever imagine,” Mr Maduro said.

Venezuela will not let the US “put its hands” on the country’s vast oil reserves “as they did in Iraq or in Libya,” the president added.

“Do not allow President Donald Trump and the group of extremists around him — John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, the CIA, Mike Pence — to convince you of his lies about Venezuela, the coup they support, or their ‘support’ for the people of Venezuela in their struggle for democracy.”