First modification:
72 of the 112 former deputies who supported the self-proclamation of Juan Guaidó as president in charge of Venezuela in 2019, voted in favor of eliminating the figure of “interim government” and replacing it with a committee leadership. Although the measure must still be ratified in another session, Guaidó warned that it is an unconstitutional decision and “would open the recognition of the Maduro dictatorship.”
The dispute of the Venezuelan opposition now takes place within its structure with its divided members.
The parliamentarians who were elected in 2015 and whose term expired in 2021, overwhelmingly voted against the figure who has made Juan Guaidó the face of resistance to the ruling party.
And it is that the majority of the former allies of the former head of the country’s legislature, the National Assembly, consider that the leadership of Guaidó that began three years ago “is not working” and that they need to “find a better way to connect with the Disillusioned Voters” in the 2024 presidential election.
At least four political parties voted against Guaidó and want “unity not to fragment” while awaiting the second session that will define the fate of Nicolás Maduro’s main public rival.
Only 23 deputies expressed their rejection of the elimination of the figure of interim president and described the intention of their peers as “a parliamentary coup.”
Nine opponents, some independent and others from the Encuentro Ciudadano, Proyecto Venezuela and Nuvipa parties, abstained from the vote and proposed declaring themselves in “permanent session.”
“The process that we started in January 2019 has weakened and is no longer perceived as a real option for change. This country requires new paths that help us return to democracy,” read a statement from the group of leaders of the opposition.
Guaidó tries to save his position
Since the beginning of December, Juan Guaidó asked the opposition group to extend his mandate as leader of the interim government for at least one more year, a request that was later received in response to a statement signed by 67 legislators announcing that they would vote for change the way the interim figure operates.
Before the vote this Thursday, December 22, Guaidó assured that the interim is “a tool that opponents have defended at the risk of their own lives and freedom, and that it continues to be the political strategy” to achieve free elections and the non-recognition of Nicolás Maduro as president.
The Constitution and its art. 233 are not an option or just a strategy, they are a must and we will continue to defend it. The people chose us for it.
It is not about defending a person, but about the tools we have to protect Venezuelans, we owe it to them.
— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) December 22, 2022
In January 2019, the Venezuelan opposition enjoyed majority control of the National Assembly, so it voted to stop recognizing Nicolás Maduro as president, after he prevented several opponents from running against him.
The Assembly named Guaidó as a ‘backbench’ legislator and he soon became one of the few leaders of his Voluntad Popular party, who dodged arrest or exile to become interim president, according to the order of succession. stipulated in the Constitution of Venezuela.
Although many saw the feat as a hope for Venezuelan democracy, his interim government failed to gain control of any government institution or the backing of the military.
With EFE, Reuters and AP
