CARACAS, Jan 19 — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido will meet tomorrow in Bogota with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a regional counter-terrorism meeting, according to two people close to Guaido.
Colombian President Ivan Duque said on Twitter that he would meet with Guaido last afternoon and Guaido would today attend the conference. Spokespeople for Guaido and the US State Department had no immediate comment.
Guaido has not left Venezuela since February, when he defied a court-imposed travel ban and travelled to neighboring Colombia to organise a US-backed effort to transport aid cargos back across the border, which was blocked by troops loyal to President Nicolas Maduro.
The United States, along with some 50 other nations, has recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate head-of-state since last January when he invoked the constitution as head of congress and declared Maduro an usurper.
But a year on Maduro remains in power, despite a US campaign to cut off his government’s sources of financing by imposing sanctions on Venezuela’s vital oil sector, and Guaido’s attempts to encourage the military to rebel.
Earlier this month, Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party seized control of the National Assembly and swore in an allied politician who defected from Guaido’s camp. Opposition lawmakers than voted in Guaido for a second term as congress chief in a separate session.
Pompeo at the time congratulated Guaido for his re-election and condemned “the failed efforts of the former Maduro regime to negate the will of the democratically elected National Assembly.”
Maduro accuses Guaido of being a coup-mongering puppet controlled by the White House. In an interview published by the Washington Post yesterday, Maduro said the Trump administration had underestimated his staying power and he “didn’t care” about sanctions. — Reuters
