Venezuela’s Maduro tries to seize congress as Guaidó fights for political survival
Fighting for political survival and struggling to keep control of congress, Venezuela’s opposition took the unprecedented step of convening at a newspaper office in Caracas late Sunday to reelect Juan Guaidó as the president of the National Assembly.
The desperate move came after Guaidó and dozens of his allies were barred from entering congress earlier in the day, even as lawmakers loyal to the Nicolás Maduro regime announced that a little known opposition lawmaker, Luis Parra, was the new head of congress.
The chaotic turn of events is just the latest obstacle for Guaidó, 36, the man Washington and more than 50 other nations recognize as Venezuela’s legitimate president, but who has little true power. It also raises the specter of two competing congressional bodies both claiming to be legitimate.
Guaidó spent Sunday morning trying to break his way into the legislative session, pushing past security guards and trying to scale a fence. As he retreated from the colonial-era building in downtown Caracas, his blue suit torn, he said the whole event had been a farce. There had been no quorum and the votes for Parra were never validated, he said, and it was tantamount to a “congressional coup.”
Asked about Parra, a one-time opposition member and ally, Guaidó called him a “pseudo deputy” who had “betrayed the nation.”
‘Guaidó remains president,” U.S. warns Venezuela
The United States and the Lima Group — a bloc of 14 nations — were quick to condemn the attempt to strip Guaidó of his crucial position. It’s Guaidó’s role as head of the National Assembly that gives him the constitutional justification to be considered the nation’s interim president.
The State Department acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of the Western Hemisphere, Michael Kozak, said Washington still considers Guaidó Venezuela’s true leader.
“The desperate actions of the former Maduro regime, illegally forcibly preventing Juan Guaidó and the majority of [National Assembly] deputies from entering the building, make this morning’s ‘vote,’ which lacks quorum and does not meet minimum constitutional standards, a farce,” he wrote on Twitter.
Parra, who was elected to congress as a member of the opposition Primero Justicia party, was among the lawmakers recently accused of lobbying Colombian and U.S. authorities to drop investigations of a Colombian businessman who allegedly got rich on the back of Venezuela’s subsidized food program.
Parra announced his surprise candidacy Sunday morning. While he was allowed into the National Assembly, many other opposition deputies as well as most of the press corps were kept out.
After a hastily called vote, Parra took the dais calling for reconciliation. As deputies tried to shout him down, screaming “golpista,” or coup monger, Parra said he would use his one-year term to try to end the needless confrontation between the opposition-controlled congress and the executive branch. The National Assembly has traditionally locked horns with Maduro (who has been in power since 2013) and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez.
“We have to tell the people the truth,” Parra said. “We’ve had 21 years of confrontation and 21 years of debates and we’re worse off than ever.... We want this parliament to have a future.”
The legislative showdown is likely to renew international scrutiny of the South American nation, and Washington has warned that it plans to step up targeted sanctions.
In a message that appeared directed at the White House, Parra said, “we want to tell the whole world to quit their regrettable actions of threatening deputies that have been elected by the vote of the people.” Even so, he tried to maintain his opposition credentials, saying he would work to stop Maduro’s allies, Cuba and Russia, from meddling in Venezuela.
Parra told the press that he had won 81 out of 140 votes during the session, something Guaidó’s team disputed. Under Venezuelan law, only the executive committee led by Guaidó had the power to gavel in the vote — something that never happened.
Hours after the morning’s chaotic session, the vast majority of opposition lawmakers gathered in the offices of El Nacional, one of the country’s last independent newspapers. Standing up one by the one, they ratified Guaidó as head of congress. He was elected by unanimous vote of the 100 deputies present.
Guaidó asked Venezuelans not to despair and have faith that the nation’s desperate situation can change.
“2020 is a second chance for us,” he said. “Not for the National Assembly, not for Juan Guaidó, but for Venezuela.”
He also said he would be calling for new protests in coming days and planned to be present at the regular National Assembly session on Tuesday.
Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio gave his firm backing to Guaidó and said Venezuela’s security forces “must be put on notice.”
“Today’s assault by the despotic Maduro regime and his mercenaries is yet another move to undermine the only democratic body left in Venezuela, the National Assembly,” he said. “Members of the National Assembly and interim President Juan Guaidó deserve tremendous credit for their unwavering defense of Venezuela’s democratic institutions and the nation’s future.”
Guaidó rose to prominence a year ago when he accused Maduro of stealing the presidential election and announced that it was his constitutional duty, as head of the national assembly, to become interim president. But he has struggled to exercise true power, even as Maduro, 57, has managed to hold on.
Maduro will likely have another chance to consolidate his power soon. The entirety of the National Assembly is due to face elections this year and Maduro has promised his allies will take control of the body again.
Guaidó said Sunday’s events — where deputies were hounded and bribed and soldiers were called out to bar lawmakers from attending — was more proof that Maduro was a dictator. And he said it was a matter of life and death to “recover Venezuela.”
“We can’t lose any more time,” Guaidó said, “because Venezuela doesn’t have any more time.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2020 at 1:19 PM.
