Venezuela’s Guaido promises to persevere
CARACAS, Venezuela — In the wake of last week’s failed military uprising, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is looking to jumpstart his movement to oust Nicolas Maduro, promising to persevere in the face of a deepening crackdown and taking heart from China’s recent support for an international mediation effort.
In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, Guaido also repeated his willingness to consider inviting foreign troops to force Maduro from power, echoing the line from Washington that “all options” are on the table for dealing with Venezuela’s rapidly-escalating crisis.
“The best solution is the one generating the fewest social costs,” he said, blaming the socialist leader for blocking all attempts at negotiating a solution. “The biggest obstacle to that is Maduro.”
The 35-year-old national assembly president, who the U.S. and 50 other countries recognize as Venezuela’s rightful leader, sat for the interview at his party’s headquarters hours after the No. 2 leader in congress was jailed and several other lawmakers took refuge in foreign embassies. All are facing arrest for joining Guaido and a small cadre of security forces in a military rebellion that was the closest the opposition has come in years to overthrowing Maduro. However, it failed to win the support of the armed forces’ top command.
“What keeps Maduro in power, and we’ve witnessed more openly in recent hours, is terror,” Guaido said.
Guaido said he is very grateful for support from the U.S., which has slapped severe financial sanctions on Venezuela and sent planeloads of humanitarian aid to bordering countries for eventual delivery inside Venezuela.
“Without hesitation they’ve called Maduro what he is: a dictator,” he said of the Trump administration.