Guaidó is the one who “best represents the democratic aspirations of Venezuela”: Brian Nichols

The Assistant Secretary of State for the Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, reaffirmed this Friday to the voice of america that the United States continues to support Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela, because he is the one who “best represents the democratic aspirations” of his people.

Nichols, who was interviewed in the framework of the OAS General Assembly that ended this Friday in Lima, thus responded to a question about whether the Biden Administration had withdrawn its support for Guaidó since he is openly negotiating with the Government of Nicolás Maduro .

Guaidó “turned out to be elected interim president through a National Assembly that was the last democratic expression that the Venezuelan people had,” Nichols said. “That is our position.”

However, he said that what the United States is looking for “is a path towards free and transparent actions so that all Venezuelans can have a government that represents them.”

“We are firm in supporting the opposition in Venezuela, [pero] the Unitary Platform represents the aspirations of the Venezuelan people and we want to support them in a process towards free elections”, he added.

Nichols was asked about the possibility that the absence of a Venezuelan representation in the OAS General Assembly could cause some kind of “damage” to the continent.

The Government of Maduro withdrew from the assembly in 2017 and this year the opposition led by Guaidó, which is recognized in the body as the representative of Venezuela, decided not send a delegation in the face of opposition from some new leftist governments in Latin America.

“What is important is to come together as a region in favor of a negotiated solution,” replied the official. “And Venezuela is an important country. Venezuelans have suffered enormously under the Nicolás Maduro regime and we have to move towards a democratic solution to the problem.”

“There are differences between how he sees the situation among some member states of the organization. However, there is a focus on a democratic way out,” she added. “We are going to take measures against the abuses by the Nicolás Maduro regime.”

As for the possibility of new sanctions against the Government of Nicaragua, Nichols pointed out that “as an international community we have to continue to push the Ortega-Murillo regime towards the release of political prisoners and towards a path to return to democracy.”

“The OAS has voted in favor of several resolutions in favor of that and the United States we are going to announce more measures in that sense shortly”, but did not reveal when those sanctions could be issued.

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