Juan Guaidó courageously rose to the task of challenging Maduro in Venezuela
As a new chapter in Venezuela’s tortured history begins after the dismantling of the interim government, it’s worth paying tribute to the sheer tenacity, courage and leadership of Juan Guaidó.
In 2019, Venezuela’s National Assembly — the country’s only democratically elected body — took the bold step of invoking Article 233 of the constitution. This provision made the president of the National Assembly the interim president of the Republic, because there was a vacuum of power after the sham elections of 2018.
The United States, European Union and dozens of responsible countries around the world joined millions of Venezuelans and the opposition in recognizing Guaidó as the interim president.
Since assuming the role, Guaidó was briefly kidnapped, his vehicle was repeatedly attacked and he was assaulted several times. His home was raided by Nicolas Maduro’s guards, and his family was threatened over and over again. His closest advisors — Roberto Marrero and Sergio Vergara — were kidnapped and imprisoned by Maduro’s forces. His uncle Juan Jose Marquez was arrested on bogus charges. Others were also unjustly arrested, detained, often tortured while in detention or forced into exile.
Despite all of the thuggery that Maduro and his criminal enterprise — disguised as government — could muster, Guaidó never fled the country or renounced his post. Instead, he did his best to advocate for his people and respond to their suffering and yearning for freedom.
When we arrived at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2017, Venezuela was one of the most
urgent humanitarian crises we faced. Millions already had begun fleeing Maduro’s tyranny and mismanagement — which became the largest single mass migration event in the history of the Americas and, currently, the second-largest external displacement crisis in the world.
Our task was difficult. We would not provide assistance through the Maduro regime. It blatantly corrupt and often used foreign assistance to reward political supporters and punish opponents.
Then came Guaidó. With bipartisan congressional support, we collaborated with his interim government and the rest of the G4 political party coalition of Acción Democrática, Primero Justicia, Un Nuevo Tiempo and Voluntad Popular.
While employing strict oversight measures, we worked with these leaders to support human-rights defenders, independent media and civil-society organizations inside of Venezuela. We provided technical support to the National Assembly. We helped mitigate the spread of malaria (which returned when the healthcare system collapsed amid a surge of illegal mining operations under Maduro). We worked through NGOs to provide some semblance of basic health services.
In October 2019,
USAID was able to sign a Development Objective Agreement, or a DOAG, with Venezuela — the first bilateral agreement signed between the United
States and Venezuela in more than 65 years. By the end of 2020, USAID — not Guaidó’s interim government — had administered more than $1.2 billion in humanitarian and development assistance to alleviate the suffering of Venezuelans inside and outside of the country as well as communities hosting them.
Thanks to Guaidó, our work also opened the door for U.N. organizations, such as the World Food Program and UNICEF, to operate in Venezuela in a neutral and impartial manner.
In 2020, Guaidó visited former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, culminating with an Oval Office visit with President Trump. In that year’s State of the Union address, members of Congress from both political parties gave Guaidó a standing ovation to symbolize the U.S. commitment to him, his cause and for all of Venezuela.
With Maduro and his brutal regime emboldened by concessions, it’s hard not to worry that the welfare of the Venezuelan people will once again take a back seat to Maduro’s drive for legitimacy, power and an economic lifeline.
It is important to remember that it was dictator Maduro himself who long blocked humanitarian assistance, first, by denying that the crisis even existed and then through his demands that he be able to control and
essentially weaponize it to reward supporters and punish rivals.
With a new proposed NGO law, it is Maduro who is copying what Beijing and Moscow have already done to essentially criminalize support for NGOs and civil society.
It’s certainly true that Guaidó and the broader coalition of Venezuelan opposition have been unable to restore true representative democracy and rule of law — no easy task. And it’s true that not all of the opposition was unified behind Guaidó. But that doesn’t diminish either his legacy of personal and political courage or his vision for a Venezuela worthy of its people.
History should look favorably upon Guaidó. Despite the threats to his life, he stepped up against a brutal and ruthless tyrant who has been kept in power largely with the support of Cuba, Nicaragua, Russia, Iran and China.
Amb. Mark Green, president and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, served as USAID administrator from 2017-2020 and U.S. ambassador to Tanzania from mid-2007 to early 2009. Eddy Acevedo is chief of staff and senior adviser to Amb. Mark Green. He was formerly the national security adviser at the U.S. Agency for International Development and senior foreign policy advisor for former Florida U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.