Former deputy Guaidó and fugitive from Venezuelan justice Leopoldo López during their failed coup attempt on April 30, 2019. Photo: Twitter.
Caracas, May 3, 2022 (OrinocoTribune.com)—On Monday, May 2, the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated via his Twitter account that he spoke with former deputy Juan Guaidó and reiterated the US regime’s support for the Venezuelan people’s fight for “democracy”—in this case a euphemism for the overthrow of the elected president, Nicolás Maduro. Notably, Blinken did not refer to the former deputy Guaidó by the title of “interim president,” as Trump’s administration habitually did.
“I spoke with Juan Guaidó to reiterate US support for the Venezuelan people as they seek to restore freedom, democracy, and prosperity to their country,” Blinken wrote. “We remain committed to the success of Venezuelan-led negotiations as the best path for a peaceful return to democracy,” in a new attempt to revive the failed US strategy to oust Maduro.
I spoke with @jguaido to reiterate U.S. support for the Venezuelan people as they seek to restore freedom, democracy, and prosperity to their country. We remain committed to the success of Venezuelan-led negotiations as the best path for a peaceful return to democracy.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 3, 2022
Guaidó responded with the following tweet a few hours later: “I spoke with Secretary of State Blinken about the importance of international support to confront Maduro and authoritarian regimes. We Venezuelans resist a dictatorship and fight to achieve free and fair elections, the support of the free world is key to achieving them.”
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Hablé con el @SecBlinken de la importancia del respaldo internacional para enfrentar a Maduro y a los regímenes autoritarios.
Los venezolanos resistimos a una dictadura y luchamos para lograr elecciones libres y justas, el apoyo del mundo libre es clave para lograrlas. https://t.co/WhsS6sWk7N
— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) May 3, 2022
In actuality, Juan Guaidó has never had substantial public support in Venezuelan politics. Since 2020, after the failed mercenary operation known as Operation Gideon, his small base of support dwindled to microscopic levels.
“The US is trying at all costs to exit this failed regime-change operation,” said Orinoco Tribune’s Editor Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza, “and for this reason they set up the February meeting with President Maduro. Now, many Latin American and Caribbean countries are following the lead of their master, and they are not calling Guaidó ‘president’ anymore, as the European Union stopped doing last year.”
“One could wonder if they are going to invite Guaidó to the Summit of the Americas,” Rodríguez-Espinoza added. “Anything could happen, taking into consideration the lack of integrity of US foreign relations. Meanwhile, they proposed the idea of a Venezuela-US meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, but a few days later the suggestion was denied by a second-rank Department of State official. Who knows what they are going to do? The reality on the ground is that Guaidó and the political parties that joined the failed regime-change operation are nowhere to be seen in Venezuela, they were not even capable of agreeing on a single event for May Day, despite the fact that they have been trying for weeks to turn up the heat with protests on the streets, and of course failing precipitously again.”
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No meeting scheduled in Trinidad and Tobago
Also this Monday, Brian Nichols, Undersecretary of State for Latin America and the Caribbean, said that there is no meeting scheduled at this moment between the US regime and Venezuelan government officials in Trinidad and Tobago, contrary to the report published by The Economist on April 23.
“There will be no such meeting,” said Nichols in an interview with Colombian news outlet NTN24. “We are interested in promoting a return to the dialogue table in Mexico, it is very important for us. And also the release of the US citizens detained in Caracas, that is a priority. But we don’t have a meeting planned right now.”
The State Department confirms that Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela wont be receiving invitations to the upcoming Summit of the Americas. pic.twitter.com/qMIunZbv6n
— Kawsachun News (@KawsachunNews) May 3, 2022
Thus, US officials continue with the same script calling for political negotiations in Mexico, known as the Mexico Talks, while within Venezuela, Chavismo and the opposition already began broad negotiations in January.
The Venezuelan government delegation to the Mexico Talks departed from the negotiations after the illegal extradition from Cape Verde to the US of the Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Venezuela also incorporated opposition actors from Democratic Alliance, the opposition group that won a significant number of governorships and municipalities during the 21N mega-elections, into the dialogue.
Featured image: Former deputy Guaidó and fugitive Leopoldo López during their failed coup attempt on April 30, 2019. Photo: Twitter.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
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