Venezuela’s Guaidó to visit Miami this week
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó speaks on his way to the National Assembly in Caracas on Jan. 7.
Venezuela’s opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, seen as the legitimate president of Venezuela by the U.S. and more than 55 other countries, is scheduled to visit Miami on Saturday as part of his international tour aimed at shoring up support in the fight against the Nicolás Maduro regime, said his ambassador to the U.S., Carlos Vecchio.
It is not yet known if the Venezuelan leader will stop in Washington during his visit to the U.S. or if he is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump, his most important international ally.
“Venezuelans and Latin Americans in Miami, let’s accompany President @jguaido in Miami before his return to Venezuela. Let’s make history,” Vecchio announced through his Twitter account.
The visit to Miami is being planned as a meeting between Guaidó and the Venezuelan community living in South Florida, where most Venezuelans in the U.S. live.
The alternatives that had been contemplated by Guaidó’s team for his trip to the U.S. included a visit to Washington, D.C., to meet with Trump; a visit to the capital to see Trump and then a stop in Miami; and a trip to Miami with the possibility of Trump flying down to meet him.
Trump was the first leader to recognize Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president when the opposition leader, as president of the National Assembly, swore himself in as Venezuela’s interim president in January 2019, after Venezuelan lawmakers declared that Maduro had usurped the presidency.
Since then, more than 50 other nations have followed suit, but the Trump administration has provided the greatest degree of support to the efforts to force Maduro from power.
Guaidó, who was in Canada on Tuesday, started his international tour on Jan. 19, when he defied the risk of detention and and met in Bogotá with Colombian President Iván Duque, and the following day with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The opposition leader later traveled to Europe, where he participated in at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, before meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron.
In Canada, he met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Antonio Maria Delgado: 305-3762180, @DelgadoAntonioM