Venezuela’s most outstanding opposition chief, Juan Guaidó, stated late Monday that he had been pressured out of Colombia, hours after crossing the border into the nation after receiving threats from the Venezuelan authorities. Colombia’s president disputed the assertion that Mr. Guaidó had been forcibly eliminated.
Speaking in a video posted on Twitter, Mr. Guaidó stated he had entered Colombia with plans to satisfy with political representatives who had gathered to debate the way forward for Venezuela. But slightly than welcome him, he stated, the Colombians kicked him out.
“The persecution of the dictatorship has extended, unfortunately, to Colombia today,” he stated, talking from what gave the impression to be an airplane. He stated he was on his option to the United States.
Late Monday, Colombia’s international ministry issued an announcement saying that Mr. Guaidó had been in Bogotá “irregularly,” and that migration officers had taken him to the airport “with the intention of verifying his departure on a commercial airline to the United States.”
But President Gustavo Petro of Colombia denied on Twitter that Mr. Guaidó had been ejected from the nation by power. “Mr. Guaidó was not expelled, it is better that the lie does not appear in politics,” Mr. Petro stated. “Mr. Guaidó had an agreement to travel to the U.S. We allowed this for humanitarian reasons despite the illegal entry to the country.”
A consultant from Mr. Petro’s authorities didn’t reply to a request for extra data.
In 2019, Mr. Guaidó rose from little-known Venezuelan lawmaker to nationwide hero after declaring Mr. Maduro an illegitimate ruler and himself the interim head of state. At the time, he posed probably the most important risk to a deeply undemocratic and unpopular president, who had helped plunge Venezuela into an financial and humanitarian disaster.
Dozens of countries acknowledged Mr. Guaidó because the nation’s new chief, most prominently the United States. But Mr. Guaidó finally did not oust Mr. Maduro, and late final 12 months, his personal colleagues within the opposition voted to dissolve his interim authorities and take away his title as interim president. Their evaluation was that the parallel-government technique wouldn’t be capable of create political change, and {that a} new path was wanted.
Mr. Maduro has jailed tons of of political opponents over time, and many have already fled for different nations, together with Colombia. But Mr. Guaidó remained in Caracas together with his household, beneath the belief that arresting such a outstanding chief would make Mr. Maduro even much less in style at dwelling and overseas.
Venezuela and Colombia share a protracted border and plenty of cultural and financial ties, however their relationship turned notably strained beneath the earlier Colombian authorities, led by President Iván Duque, a conservative.
Mr. Petro, Colombia’s new, leftist president, has restored the nations’ diplomatic relations, which have been reduce off in 2019, and has had a number of conferences with Mr. Maduro. Mr. Petro has tried to place himself as a dealer between the Maduro authorities; the big, typically fractured Venezuelan opposition, of which Mr. Guaidó is only one participant; and the remainder of the world.
He met final week in Washington with President Biden, and the 2 leaders issued a joint assertion condemning “all forms of authoritarianism and aggression in the world” and expressing curiosity in a “solution to the situation in Venezuela.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Petro is scheduled to host a gathering with representatives of roughly 20 nations to debate Venezuela’s future. Two officers from the National Security Council in Washington, Jon Finer and Juan Gonzalez, are anticipated to attend, together with former Senator Chris Dodd.
On Monday, Colombia’s international minister, Álvaro Leyva, issued a discover clarifying that Mr. Guaidó had not been not invited to the assembly.
Source: www.nytimes.com