New Venezuela parliament leaves Westernbacked Guaido out in cold

CARACAS: A new Venezuelan parliament sworn in yesterday with the party of President Nicolas Maduro now in almost complete control and the main thorn in his side, Western-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, out in the political cold.

Venezuelans have lived almost two years with both men laying claim to the presidency, but with Maduro labeled a dictator and subject to Western sanctions and Guaido recognised as the country’s legitimate leader by the US and more than 50 other nations.

In a move some criticised as a strategic error, the opposition led by Guaido boycotted Dec 6 legislative elections that returned a large majority for Maduro’s party. The National Assembly formerly enjoyed an opposition majority.

This means that yesterday, Guaido will be out of his job as National Assembly speaker, losing the limited institutional legitimacy he had, and leaving foreign governments backing his claim to the presidency in a difficult position.

“I do not think that this duality (of power) will continue for much longer,” Benigno Alarcon, director of the Center of Politics and Government at Venezuela’s Andres Bello Catholic University, told AFP.

Maduro, he said, ‘has control of the country through force’ and a firm grip all state institutions.

This means, among other things, he could use Covid-19 restrictions on movement to ban any possible protests against his rule.

At the same time, Guaido is faced with increasingly feeble opposition mobilisation.

A referendum-style consultation called by Guaido and held over five days in December for people to condemn the Dec 6 vote and Maduro with it, failed to muster the large numbers of opposition supporters that participated in the protests of 2019.

“It is very likely that... Guaido will remain an opposition leader in exile,” said Rafael Alvarez, analyst at the firm Iuriscorp.