Juan Guaidó: "We had discussions with the army"

CARACAS – Venezuelan opposition is in talks with military and civilian officials to force the president to leave

Nicolás Maduro

, said the self-proclaimed interim president

Juan Guaidó

in an interview with
The Washington Post.

With the support of

United States

Guaidó also said the opposition would challenge the socialist government by providing food aid to alleviate the deep humanitarian crisis in the country.

Guaidó and his opponents are engaged in a power struggle to tear Maduro out of office. In Caracas, the military high command and the defense minister swore allegiance to Maduro. Guaidó said that talks with the army were going on behind the scenes and he also pointed out that the Maduro military exile in Washington had changed sides to join him. "We had talks with government officials, both civilian and military," Guaidó said. "It is a very delicate issue concerning the personal safety of these men, so we are meeting with absolute discretion."

With support from the United States and many Latin American countries, Guaidó has been proclaimed interim president last week. Guaidó, president in flames of the National Assembly, said that Maduro was illegitimate and that he should leave power because there is a broad consensus on the fact that the elections of last year were fraudulent.

Antonio Rivero, a Venezuelan general in exile in Miami, said he had talked with ways and means that opposed Maduro but feared a total break with his government. "Many soldiers are desperate," said Rivero, "the armed forces are already divided."

Guaidó seeks to set up a transitional government with a network of international supporters and announced that he was appointing "representatives abroad". He added that Carlos Vecchio, a Venezuelan opposition leader exiled in South Florida, was already in the United States. Guaidó said that before being proclaimed president, he had met with several US senators, including Republican Marco Rubio, and Democrats Richard Durbin and Robert Menendez.

In the interview, Guaidó also badured that the opposition was preparing to challenge the authority of the government by providing food aid to the country, thanks to the promise of a contribution of 20 million US dollars, as well as offers from Colombia and Brazil. , Argentina, Paraguay and the European Union (EU). In the past, Maduro had blocked similar aid, claiming that the vertiginous increase in hunger and disease in Venezuela was a fiction invented by his enemies.

"Humanitarian aid is at the center of our policies and we are working on logistics to get this help," Guaidó said. "We think this will represent a new dilemma for the regime and the armed forces because they will have to decide whether they are on the side of the population and want to heal the country or they will turn their backs on it."

Guaidó said his challenge against Maduro was at a delicate stage and that he "has a lot to solve" before calling new elections. He said the process would take six to nine months, since after Maduro's resignation, the electoral system should be swiftly purged and plunged into corruption.

Guaidó said the government had not stopped him thanks to international support. Although it was briefly stopped at the beginning of the month, the Maduro government has treated it with relative gentleness, since it has arrested, prosecuted or pushed many other leaders of the opposition. in exile.

But Guaidó's growing recognition also imposes practical costs on his fledgling transitional government, such as the cost of leasing embbadies and staff in countries that have already accepted him as Venezuela's emergency leader. . The opposition said Guaidó had, in part, Venezuelan funds frozen in the United States and that the Trump government pledged to cover diplomatic and government spending.

Guaidó said the nascent transitional government aims to take control of Citgo, the Venezuelan-owned oil company in the United States through US affiliates, but hinted that it might take some time . The most influential Venezuelan exiles have called on the Trump government to take steps to ensure that Citgo is a source of revenue for the Guaidó transitional government.

"Nothing will mark Maduro's fate any more than losing control of Venezuelan badets abroad," said Pedro Burello, former board member of the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, who in turn owns of Citgo.

"In addition to cash deposits owned by various public bodies, the control of Citgo would actually change the balance of power," Burello said.

The Washington Post

Jaime Arrambide Translation