Venezuela holds its breath for Guaido’s make or break moment
VENEZUELA was yesterday in a state of anxious expectation as the country braced for the return of Juan Guaidó, the self-declared president locked in a deepening leadership standoff with Nicolás Maduro.
Mr Guaidó vowed to re-enter the country today after slipping out to neighbouring Colombia to lead the attempted passage of aid a week ago. In violation of a travel ban, he risks arrest upon his return, a move that could tip the South American nation further into chaos after weeks of deadly unrest.
It’s likely to be a make-or-break moment for his bid to oust Mr Maduro. No one knows exactly how or when the 35-year-old politician will attempt to cross Venezuela’s heavily-guarded borders. With Mr Guaidó’s movements entirely absent from the airwaves due to a state media blackout, Venezuelans are reliant on social media for news of the man recognised as the legitimate president by more than 50 countries.
Mr Guaidó yesterday used Twitter to call on Venezuelans to launch nationwide protests in support of his arrival. “I’m announcing my return to the country. I am calling on the Venezuelan people to mobilise all over the country tomorrow at 11am,” he said. “Let’s go, Venezuela!”
On the streets of Caracas, bristling with security forces, supporters said they believed that if Mr Guaidó was incarcerated it would unleash a popular uprising against the government.
“The people will go out into the streets,” said Albeiro Valencia, a 62-yearold stallholder at Chacao market. “He has to come back because he is our president!” insisted his wife, Alicia, 62.
The couple said change could not wait, that Venezuelans could no longer cling on to survival amid chronic shortages and hyperinflation. A pack of 12 rolls of lavatory paper on their stall costs 65,000bolívars, more than three times the 18,000bolívars – around £4 – to which the government tripled the minimum monthly wage in January.
Olga Lorenzo, a 56-year-old businesswoman shopping with her husband, said they feared a complete collapse in the coming months, and did not even know if they would be able to buy food on Wednesday, “so we came just in case”. They plan to join the protests today, and are hopeful that the end of the Maduro era is near.
There was a chorus of international warnings against arresting Mr Guaidó. The EU said any measure against his freedom or safety would represent “a major escalation of tensions”.
Juan Carlos Varela, the president of Panama, warned that such a move would be “to confront the people and more than 50 countries who support him”.
Others did not believe street pressure would unseat Mr Maduro.
Luis, a 53-year-old salesman in Caracas’s central Sabana Grande area, who did not wish to give his last name, said Venezuelans were extremely frightened by the level of repression. “There is not a good way out,” he said. “It’s the people that are going to suffer the consequences.”