Be careful what you wish for….
“Are we going to surrender Venezuela’s sovereignty?” Nicolas Maduro cried out today as thousands of Venezuelans thronged in the streets to protest his dictatorship. At this point, his subjects might be willing to make that trade, or at least that’s what opposition leader Juan Guaido hopes. Earlier today, Guaido declared himself the interim president of Venezuela, taking the oath of office as protesters filled the streets:
BREAKING: Venezuela’s Guaido takes oath swearing himself in as interim president pic.twitter.com/agnqGG1Hzg
— Reuters World (@ReutersWorld) January 23,2019
He may get US support immediately. Reuters reports that the Trump administration has discussed recognizing a Guaido government if the assembly leader took this step. That aggressive move might play either way:
U. S. President Donald Trump could recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s legitimate president as soon as Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Amid street protests in Venezuela, the Trump administration is preparing an announcement of its formal support for Guaido, head of the opposition-led Congress, but is waiting to see whether he will declare himself interim president, something he has so far refrained from doing, the sources told Reuters.
Between yesterday’s ¡Hola! from Mike Pence and this leak from the White House, the US position on Guaido couldn’t be more clear. The Trump administration wanted Guaido to take the first step in declaring himself the legitimate leader of the country. Now that he has, will the rest of Venezuela’s institutions fall in line behind Guaido — or Maduro?
Maduro’s efforts to prorogue the parliament last week ignited the opposition, leading to today’s massive protests — the largest in two years:
Amid sharply rising tensions between Washington and Caracas, the U. S.-backed opposition here sought Wednesday to fill the streets with protesters and spark the beginning of a sustained uprising aimed at ousting President Nicolás Maduro from office.
