PanamaTimes

Thursday, Apr 25, 2024

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó ejected from Colombia

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó ejected from Colombia

Guaidó lands in Miami after failed bid to attend summit hosted by leftwing president, with return to Venezuela looking unlikely
Venezuela’s best-known opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, has touched down in the United States after being unceremoniously ejected from Colombia while attempting to gatecrash a summit about the political future of his crisis-stricken homeland.

Guaidó shot to fame in early 2019 and for a brief moment looked poised to topple Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, with the support of dozens of foreign governments including the US, UK and Brazil.

But four years later the 39-year-old’s star has waned dramatically as a result of his failure to unseat Hugo Chávez’s political heir. Maduro has crushed street protests and consolidated power. Most of the international community has abandoned Guaidó’s parallel “presidency” and “interim government”.

And key regional powers such as Colombia and Brazil have elected leftist leaders who have revived ties with Maduro’s administration and condemned Guaidó’s attempt to bring it down by using foreign pressure to spark a military uprising.

Late on Monday, Guaidó announced he had crossed into Colombia on foot to escape Maduro’s “persecution” and attend an international summit which Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, is hosting, in an effort to solve Venezuela’s deeply entrenched political crisis.

However, hours later Guaidó was removed from the South American country by migration officials and boarded a plane to the US, where he landed early on Tuesday. “Unfortunately, the persecution of the dictatorship spread to Colombia today,” he said in a video statement filmed inside.

“Guaidó didn’t say it, but everything suggests he will not return to Venezuela,” Luz Mely Reyes, a prominent Venezuelan journalist, tweeted as the politician touched down in Miami.

Christopher Sabatini, a Latin America specialist from Chatham House in London, said Colombia’s decision to send Guaidó packing was a melancholy reflection of how dramatically his political standing had changed since early 2019, when he led huge protests through the streets of Caracas and enjoyed significant global support.

“It’s a sort of sad coda to his so-called presidency,” said Sabatini, who said he suspected Guaidó’s decision to travel to Colombia was a political stunt designed to reassert his waning authority over Venezuela’s opposition.

In fact, Sabatini said he believed Guaidó’s move – which he likened to a botched comeback attempt by the US actor Mickey Rourke – had merely highlighted his weakness. “It’s pure performance. He’s trying to make himself relevant again but it has the opposite effect. It makes him look sad.

“The truth is that most of the governments that are attending [Petro’s conference] – Spain, the UK, Chile and others – no longer recognize [Guaidó’s] government, such as it was, or are now engaging with the Maduro government,” Sabatini added.

“He’s become a little bit of a caricature, to be honest. [He has] no real authority, not much popularity. He is clearly trying to grab headlines and make himself relevant and engaging.” But this week’s drama had merely “reinforced the sense of his irrelevance”.

Guaidó continues to insist his crusade to bring political change to Venezuela is alive.

Before leaving the country, he had planned to take part in October opposition primaries designed to select a candidate to challenge Maduro in a presidential election scheduled for next year. That will be the first such vote since the 2018 election which Maduro won despite leading his country into one of the worst economic collapses outside a war zone in recent history. Much of the international community denounced the 2018 election as an undemocratic sham.

Guaidó’s party, Voluntad Popular (Popular Will), condemned what it called his “arbitrary expulsion” from Colombia.

However, Petro pushed back, claiming his country would have “gladly” offered Guaidó asylum had he arrived at an official port of entry and presented a passport.

“There is no reason to enter the country illegally,” Colombia’s leftist president tweeted.

“Clearly, a segment of politics wanted to disturb the unhindered progress of the international conference on Venezuela,” Petro added.

At the opening of his one-day conference on Venezuela, Petro said he wanted to see steps to ensure its citizens were free to democratically elect their leaders. But Colombia’s president also called for an end to US sanctions which he blamed for the dire humanitarian crisis that has forced more than seven million Venezuelans to flee abroad over the past eight years.

“We have seen it on our streets​: [Venezuelan] ​p​eople going hungry on the streets of Bogotá and Colombia. People fleeing hunger, fleeing misery​,” Petro told diplomats from countries including the US, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, the UK and Brazil.

“​​The ​America​s​ cannot be a place of sanctions. ​The Americas must be a place of freedoms. ​And the Americas must be a place of democrac​y.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
Apple warns against drying iPhones with rice
In a recent High Court hearing, the U.S. argued that Julian Assange endangered lives by releasing classified information.
Global Law Enforcement Dismantles Lockbit Ransomware Operation
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has died at the Arctic prison colony
The President of Argentina Javier Mile does not fly private, he flies commercial, with the citizens he represents. And they LOVE him for it.
Bitcoin Reaches $50,000 for First Time in Over Two Years
Belo Horizonte: Brazil's Rising Carnival Hotspot for 2024
In El Salvador, the 'Trump of Latin America' stuns the world with a speech slamming woke policing after winning a landslide election
Tucker’s interview with Putin is over 50M views on X within the first 5 hours.
Finnish Airline, Finnair, is voluntarily weighing passengers to better estimate flight cargo weight
President Nayib Bukele has proudly announced El Salvador's remarkable achievement of becoming the safest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Former Chilean President Sebastian Piñera Dies in Helicopter Crash
This farmer seems to understand science a bit more than the event organizer, Klaus Schwab.
Facebook turns 20: From Mark Zuckerberg's dormitory to a $1trn company
The Coolest Dictator in the World" on the Path to Victory in El Salvador
Macron, France and fake news
Indian-Origin Man 'King' Arrested For Smuggling $16 Million Drugs Into US
Can someone teach Americans that not every person with slanted eyes is Chinese?
Europe's Farmers Feeding the People, Protesting Against Politicians Who Do Nothing for Their Country and Serve Only Themselves at Taxpayers' Expense
Paris Restaurant That Inspired 'Ratatouille' Loses $1.6 Million Worth Of Wine
Brazilian Police Investigate Bolsonaro's Son for Alleged Illegal Spying
Police in Brazil Raid Residence of Bolsonaro Associate Over Allegations of Illegal Spying
Border Dispute Escalates as Texas Governor Vows Increased Razor Wire
OpenAI Enhances ChatGPT-4 Model, Potentially Addressing AI "Laziness" Issue
The NSA finally acknowledges spying on Americans by acquiring sensitive data
Report Reveals Toxic Telegram Group Generating X-Rated AI-Generated Fake Images of Taylor Swift
US Border Patrol States 'No Plans' to Remove Razor Wire Installed in Texas
Bitcoin Experiences Approximately 20% Decline in Value
Klaus Schwab recently appointed himself as the Earth's "trustee of the future."
DeSantis Drops Out, Endorses Trump.
Nikki Haley said former President Trump is "just not at the same level" of mental fitness as he was while president in 2016.
Residents of a southern Mexican town set the government palace on fire in response to the police killing of a young man
Samsung Launches AI-Driven Galaxy S24, Ushering in New Smartphone Era
Judge Questions SEC's Regulatory Overreach in Coinbase Lawsuit
The Ecuador prosecutor who was investigating the television studio attack, has been assassinated.
Is artificial intelligence the solution to cyber security threats?
Vivek Ramaswamy suspends his US election campaign and endorses Trump.
Viral Satire: A Staged Satirical Clip Mistaken as Real Footage from the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos
The AI Revolution in the Workforce: CEOs at Davos Predict Major Job Cuts in 2024
Ecuador Reports 178 Hostages in Prison Gang Standoff
The Startling Cuban Espionage Case That Has Rattled the US Government
Two Armed Men in Ecuador, Dressed as Batman and The Joker Storm the Streets.
Armed Gang Raids Ecuadorian TV Station Following State of Emergency Declaration
Anti-Democratic Canada: Journalist Arrested for Questioning Canadian Finance Minister on Support of Terrorist Group
Ecuador's 'Most-Wanted' Criminal Vanishes from Prison
Mexican Cartel Supplied Wi-Fi to Locals Under Threat of Fatal Consequences for Non-Compliance
Border Surge Leads to Over 11,000 Migrants Waiting in Northern Mexico
Outsider Candidates Triumph in Latin American Elections
As Argentina Goes to the Polls, Will the Proposal to Replace the Peso with the Dollar Secure Votes?
Fatal Shark Attack Claims Life of Boston Woman Paddleboarding Near Bahamas Resort, According to Police
×