Ana Mengotti | Miami (EFE) by more than 50 governments and today lives in the United States.
“Tweets or communiqués are not enough (…) when they are attacking not against democracy, something that we do not have in Venezuela, but against the possibility of having it,” Guaido said in an appeal to the “free world” to “not be afraid” of impose more sanctions on the government headed by Nicolás Maduro.
“I know they are controversial (the sanctions), I know they generate debate, but it is the tool we have, we must use them thoroughly (…) in order to somehow deter the savage actions of a dictatorship like Maduro’s,” he stressed.
Guaidó, who has been in the US “67 days”, an account that he assured to keep in mind, since his medium-term purpose is to return to his country, as long as he has “security”, spoke with EFE in Miami (Florida) about what you can do from the US so that the next presidential elections in Venezuela are free and democratic.
Unity and international accompaniment
The opposition leader highlighted the importance of the primaries of the Unified Platform (opposition), set for next October 22 and when asked if he really believes that they will take place, he points out that it is already clear that Maduro “is going to attack” against the selection process of the opposition candidate.
Three of the opposition candidates (María Corina Machado, Henrique Capriles and Freddy Superlano) have been “disabled”, he stressed, but it is a scenario that “is not new” and should not “take anyone by surprise”.
“You have to be prepared and not be naive,” he declared.
Maduro and the Nicaraguan example
Guaidó mentioned at this point the banning of the Venezuelan opposition political parties in 2018 and what happened in 2021 in Nicaragua, where all the opposition pre-candidates were disqualified and imprisoned and Daniel Ortega “swept away” in the elections and achieved a new presidential term.
In his opinion, Maduro “is going to attack the primary because a unified country like in 2019 hurts him a lot,” when he, who then presided over the National Assembly, proclaimed himself interim president of Venezuela on the grounds that the US The US and other countries did not validate the 2018 elections.
His interim presidency was recognized first by the US government, then headed by Donald Trump, and then by fifty more governments and was maintained until 2022.
The opponent defended the need to reinforce the unity of the anti-Chavista forces and achieve “international accompaniment” to protect the pre-candidates and the National Commission of Primaries in the first place.
It is, he said, that those who are going to attack them know in advance that their actions are going to “have consequences.”
There have to be consequences for attacking the primaries
“There must be consequences for a dictatorship like Maduro’s that disables, persecutes, and tortures,” he reiterated after mentioning that the Inter-American Charter has become “poetry” and does not serve to end “the impunity of tyrants.”
When he arrived in the US, after the Colombian government did not allow him to remain in its territory, Guaidó said at a press conference in Miami that he had no intention of requesting political asylum.
Your status in the US
Now, as he mentioned to EFE, he is studying which immigration status is best for his family – his wife and two daughters joined him in Miami – and the “work” he wants to do from here.
Which is basically to help protect those who “resist” the “dictatorship” within Venezuela, promote the unity of the opposition forces and “make visible” the fight to restore democracy.
On what the US can do, the Venezuelan leader said that he has “constant communication” with the Administration of President Joe Biden and that he has transmitted the message that there can be no relief from sanctions or allow Maduro to act with impunity.
It is “time to take action,” concluded Guaidó, who believes that in this way not only Venezuelans win, who will be able to “live in peace and recover democracy,” but also the US and the world in general.
“Maduro is the lighthouse, the first antenna of regional destabilization,” he asserted.