by Jordi MIRO
Agence France Presse
BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido vowed on Thursday to return home “in the coming days… despite threats” from President Nicolas Maduro’s regime, as he continues a tour of regional allies to rally international support.
Guaido, recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries, met with Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday afternoon while Paraguay’s leader Mario Abdo announced Guaido would be in Asuncion on Friday.
After flouting a travel ban by Maduro’s regime, Guaido went to Colombia last Friday where he met President Ivan Duque, US Vice President Mike Pence, Abdo and Sebastian Pinera of Chile.
Guaido was in Colombia to try to force desperately needed humanitarian aid — which is also stockpiled in Brazil — into Venezuela but was thwarted by a determined military blockade ordered by Maduro.
Guaido “wants to show the Venezuelan people that he’s being hosted by the president of Brazil… He wants to give the message that he’s recognized” as Venezuela’s true leader, Brazil Vice President Hamilton Mourao said in an interview with Globo.
“I’ve received threats against me and my family, but also threats of imprisonment by the regime,” Guaido said alongside Bolsonaro.
Guaido was to dine with Brazil’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ernesto Araujo and then meet Abdo at 11:00 am (1400 GMT) on Friday at the presidential palace.
Venezuela is wracked by a humanitarian crisis that has seen poverty soar as millions of people face chronic shortages of food and medicine.
After years of economic chaos, its problems have been compounded by hyperinflation that the International Monetary Fund says will reach 10 million percent in 2019 — leaving salaries and savings virtually worthless.
An estimated 2.7 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2015, the United Nations says.
The latest to join the exodus are members of Venezuela’s military — whose high command still backs Maduro. Colombian immigration officials said that more than 550 Venezuelan military members have deserted and sought asylum across the border.
Fears of arrest
Guaido stunned the world last month, proclaiming himself Venezuela’s acting president after the National Assembly he leads declared Maduro a usurper and illegitimate over his May re-election which was widely criticized as fraudulent.
Guaido wants to oust Maduro and set up a transitional government ahead of new elections.
“We’re fighting for free elections, as stipulated by the constitution, democratic elections,” Guaido and Bolsonaro said in a joint statement.
Far-right leader Bolsonaro apologized for the support that two of his leftist predecessors — Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff — gave to Maduro.
Guaido told reporters that he would return home “at the latest on Monday,” although there are fears he might be arrested when he does.
Guaido would have to face justice when he returns because he ignored his ban on foreign travel, Maduro told US channel ABC News earlier this week.
Guaido’s supporters were planning a welcome home party at the offices of the El Nacional newspaper in Caracas on Friday.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights exhorted Maduro’s government to ensure no harm comes to Guaido, including by “third parties.”
At the United Nations on Thursday, failure to take action on two competing drafts laid bare divisions among world powers over the way forward in Venezuela.
Russia and China vetoed a US resolution in the Security Council calling for new elections and unimpeded deliveries of humanitarian aid, while Russia’s draft urging a political settlement “through peaceful means” failed to secure the required number of votes.
Strengthening relationships
Guaido arrived in Brasilia on a Colombian military plane early Thursday.
He met European diplomats in Brasilia to “strengthen relationships with those countries that have recognized our efforts to recover democracy and achieve free elections,” Guaido said on Twitter.
His team is studying the possibility of visiting Roraima state, the border area with Venezuela where four people were killed in weekend clashes with Maduro’s security services, a source in his camp said.
Guaido says 300,000 people face death without the food and medicine supplies, much of them from the United States, stockpiled in its neighbors.
Eight out of 10 Venezuelan households are at risk of food shortages, a study by three Venezuelan universities found.
A concert organized by billionaire British entrepreneur Richard Branson last Friday raised $2.5 million in one week to help Guaido’s aid effort, organizers said.
© Agence France-Presse
