‘Guaidó remains president.’ U.S. warns Maduro amid disrupted vote in Venezuela
The Trump administration is warning embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro that he will face consequences for stifling a critical vote Sunday on the reelection of National Assembly President Juan Guaidó.
Despite the disruption, the United States will continue to recognize Guaidó as president until a free and fair vote is held, Elliott Abrams, President Donald Trump’s special representative for Venezuela, told McClatchy.
Abrams said that Maduro’s decision to physically block the building amounts to a “last resort,” and that he would face increased international isolation as a result.
“It is our understanding in Venezuelan law that Guaidó remains president until such time as there is allowed a legitimate vote,” Abrams said in an interview.
Abrams made the comments on Friday in anticipation of Sunday’s developments. But a State Department official confirmed after the events on Sunday that Abrams’ remarks still hold, and that the United States will continue to recognize Guaidó despite the declared victory of another, controversial opposition figure.
Most Venezuelan lawmakers opposed to Maduro were barred from entering the National Assembly and, in an unexpected turn, Luis Parra declared himself president. But the Trump administration views that vote was illegitimate given its limited access to lawmakers, two officials said.
Abrams, who has been asking the European Union to impose additional sanctions on Maduro, predicted that a “blunt and brutal” blockade of the National Assembly — Venezuela’s last vestige of institutional democracy — would be the spark that instigates new action.
The plan going forward is to “over the course of weeks increase pressure on the regime,” Abrams said.
“There are additional ways of bringing pressure on the regime, and we will use them,” Abrams said. “And we’ll obviously ask for additional sanctions in the context of the Rio Treaty, and in the context of EU sanctions that already exist.”
Maduro-aligned security forces blocked Guaidó from entering the National Assembly on Sunday morning, claiming he was “disqualified” from holding public office in the country.
“Whoever helps prevent the legitimate installation of the Venezuelan parliament becomes an accomplice of the dictatorship, and an accomplice of those who are oppressing the people of Venezuela,” Guaidó wrote on Twitter in response.
The interim leader eventually entered the chamber, but his political allies and members of the press remained thwarted, according to reporters witnessing the scene on the ground.
A portion of the Venezuelan congress then selected Luis Parra, who said he would try to end confrontation between the opposition-controlled parliament and Maduro — who still controls most levers of power including the armed forces.
“We want to give this parliament a future,” Parra said.
The United States and more than 50 countries recognize Guaidó as the legitimate interim president of Venezuela. But Maduro’s effort to undermine his reelection posed a potential challenge to his constitutional role.
The Trump administration has been attempting to pressure Maduro out of power for over a year.
The Venezuelan ruler has presided over an unprecedented political and economic crisis that has fueled the world’s largest migration. But Maduro has remained in power with the support of Russia and Cuba.
Fernando Cutz, former director for South America at the White House National Security Council under the Trump administration, told McClatchy that Maduro’s spectacle at the National Assembly would run contrary his strategic interests, as the world’s attention remains focused on other hotspots.
“It seems to me like the preservation of the status quo would be in Maduro’s interest, and that any event that draws international attention would run contrary to his interests,” Cutz said.
“He can undermine Guaidó,” Cutz said, “but that comes at a cost.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2020 at 2:40 PM with the headline "‘Guaidó remains president.’ U.S. warns Maduro amid disrupted vote in Venezuela."
