Juan Guaidó: "300,000 Venezuelans may starve in the coming days"

MONTEVIDEO.- Since January, the opposition of

Venezuela

considers that he is the legitimate president of the country.

Juan Guaidó

This 35-year-old engineer was born in the port of La Guaira, near Caracas. During a conversation with El País, he confirmed that he would not participate in the dialogue with Nicolás Maduro. He was surprised by the position of Uruguay. It offers guarantees to soldiers who are always loyal to

Nicolás Maduro.

Uruguay, Mexico and Caricom urged Montevideo to request an immediate and unconditional dialogue. Do you want to participate in this dialogue?

-Our decision is not to participate in this initiative. The reason is as follows: the Venezuelan democratic forces have already participated several times in efforts of dialogue, negotiation and agreement with Nicolás Maduro's regime. We have done it both inside and outside Venezuela, privately and publicly. Alone and with international accompaniment. The last time between December 2017 and January 2018 in the Dominican Republic, with the support of the President of this country, Danilo Medina, who was very committed to this attempt and with the presence of the Foreign Ministers of Mexico and Chile. They witness the exception of what happened. The consequence invariably in all these processes has been the same: the increase of the regime's authoritarianism and repression. At the end of each dialogue, there are more political prisoners and fewer rights for Venezuelan citizens. That is to say a situation in which Maduro and the dome that surrounds it not only never give up, but also take advantage of this circumstance to further protect the dictatorship. As will be understood, we can not lend ourselves to a new maneuver of this type. If Maduro had wanted to facilitate the dialogue, he could have released the political prisoners. He did not do it. On the contrary, MP Juan Requessens is still deprived of his freedom without trial, in violation of his parliamentary competence and the will of his constituents. Julio Borges, former president of the National Assembly, had to be exiled because of the persecution, precisely after the attempted negotiation in the Dominican Republic; Another deputy, my friend from the popular will, Gilbert Caro, has spent several months in detention and Leopoldo López is still under house arrest. There are other cases of political prisoners with more than three decades behind bars. To be very clear, our position is that any agreement that does not provide for the termination of the usurpation will be considered a delaying tactic to retain Maduro's power to usurp.

-What do you think of the role played by Uruguay?

-We were very surprised at your attitude, you are not part of the Lima group, created in August 2017. The voice of Uruguay in this Latin American diplomatic effort could have been very useful. His government also did not condemn the coup by Maduro when he ignored the wishes of the Venezuelan electors who elected the National Assembly and when it convened its composition. , nor has it condemned the systematic violation of human rights in Venezuela. In the case of a country that holds us in high esteem, Uruguay has not made its efforts to defend the cause of democracy.

– What will the opposition do if Maduro does not let in humanitarian aid?

– The entrance of the humanitarian aid aims to address the vulnerability and the danger of death of more than 300,000 Venezuelans, who could die in the coming weeks if they did not enjoy the benefit of their lives. quick access to medicines and food. The intention is therefore to ensure access to inputs to serve this population as necessary. Even if it means mobilizing hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in a territory close to the collection points.

-The Uruguayan president, José Mujica, said that Maduro was stuck and that he was not getting any incentive to leave.

-The four main democratic political parties in Venezuela are disqualified. The same goes for its key leaders. Since January 23, more than 800 Venezuelans have been arrested, including 84 minors. There have been more than 40 killings by law enforcement who are still loyal to Maduro. Between 2015 and 2017, the number of extrajudicial executions by the repressive machine rose to more than 9,200, more than three times the number of people missing in Chile during the military dictatorship of Pinochet. More than 4 million Venezuelans have left the country for economic reasons, fleeing violence because of political persecution. That's what the dictatorship of Maduro did. Please! Maduro has to leave because he is the obstacle to overcome this situation and because he usurps the Presidency of the Republic since January 10th. The democratic community of countries has clearly explained this point. The main incentive to leave is that it has no internal or external recognition. However, to avoid prolonging the conflict for longer than necessary, as millions of Venezuelans suffer from the crisis every hour of this conflict, we are ready to give you all the guarantees you demand, as long as the agreements allow your exit from power. Our disposition has always existed in previous electoral and dialogue processes. These guarantees do not only concern Nicolás Maduro, but also the high command of his regime.

– What role do you think you play in the Venezuelan crisis in Russia and China?

-So there are governments that are direct witnesses of the degree of destruction and looting to which Venezuela has been subjected, these are those of China and Russia. In the case of China, beyond a certain political affinity, she has maintained a careful distance. The interest of his government and his companies is that the new Venezuelan government respects its investments and honors its loans. In statements to Asian media, we said Venezuela would respect all legally binding external commitments and we would respect foreign investment on an equal footing. Russia, on the other hand, has been more active, particularly in terms of diplomatic and military support, although I must say that in recent days we have received positive signals from your government. Regardless of the opinion that can be drawn from it, the Russian government is pragmatic and we bet that common sense prevails. The Maduro regime did not comply and proved that he could not protect his investments in Venezuela. His diet is rotten inside and without prospects.

– Is there a risk of US military intervention if the crisis continues?

– In Venezuela, there is already a foreign intervention with the presence of hundreds of Cuban nationals in the armed forces. There is also a presence of ELN and FARC of Colombia. The core of the political conflict is that a coup d'etat was held, directed and executed by Nicolás Maduro, who holds the de facto inauguration of the "president". We absolutely do not want this conflict to be solved in a violent way, but as Nelson Mandela said, "the battlefield is not decided by the oppressed, but by the oppressor". In this case, if an international force were needed to restore the constitutional order and protect the lives of our citizens, the legislature is legally entitled to approve such action on the part of the National Assembly (Article 187 of the Constitution of the Republic of Venezuela). From the humanitarian point of view, if the crisis persists, it is estimated that more than 300,000 Venezuelans will die and many more will be forced to migrate. The doctrine "Responsibility to Protect" adopted by the UN is clear and gives all countries the responsibility to act for the protection of human life in any territory, in the scenario that provides considerable human losses. It is on behalf of the international community and actors such as Colombia, Brazil and the United States. to define whether, in the protracted crisis scenario and humanitarian aid, if it is ineffective or insufficient, they will adopt a position of tolerance with regard to these events.

The country / GDA