Juan Guaidó, Venezuela’s 36-year-old top opposition leader and head of the National Assembly was, in a dramatic twist of events, prevented by the police from entering parliament ahead of a legislative vote. A video showed Guaidó trying to scale the railings outside the building but was prevented by the national guards, while blows were being exchanged by lawmakers inside the building.
How We Got Here
The result of the May 2018 Presidential election in Venezuela was widely disputed and tagged as fraudulent. The Organization of American States (OAS) approved a resolution declaring Maduro’s presidency illegitimate and urging new elections but no consensus was reached.
As a result of this, they recognized Guaido’s self-declared presidency of which he swore himself in on 23 January 2019 based on an article in the constitution that transfers power to the head of the national assembly if the presidency becomes vacant.
His move was supported by 60 countries including Israel and the United States who remain his most powerful allies. To maintain his claim as interim president, Guaidó needed to be re-elected as head of the assembly, the reason a legislative vote was scheduled to hold. However, Maduro latched onto the opportunity to take back power by using security forces to intimidate opposition members.
One Country, Two Speakers
In an unexpected turn of events, some opposition members formed an alliance with President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist camp and elected a former ally of Guaidó, Luis Eduardo Parra, as leader of the National Assembly.
Mr Guaidó’s supporters, on the other hand, held an improvised parliamentary session in the offices of El Nacional, a pro-opposition newspaper. Opposition lawmakers attended and voted to elect him as Speaker. According to BBC, 100 of the country’s parliament’s 167 legislators voted in his favour.
While it appears Guaidó no longer had US President Donald Trump’s attention, the secretary of state has extended his congratulations to Guaidó “On behalf of the United States, I congratulate Juan Guaidó on his re-election as president of the Venezuelan National Assembly and condemn the failed efforts of the former Maduro regime to negate the will of the democratically elected National Assembly,” Mr Pompeo said in a statement on Sunday.
