Fewer Than 15 Countries Recognize US-Appointed Venezuelan Coup Leader Juan GuaidĂł
By Benjamin Norton – Jan 28, 2022
A right-wing Venezuelan opposition leader and former top Juan GuaidĂł functionary admitted a maximum of 15 countries recognize the unelected coup leader as âinterim president.â The Joe Biden administration is one of them.
January 23, 2022 marks the third anniversary of the US governmentâs ongoing coup attempt against Venezuelaâs only constitutional government, that of democratically elected President NicolĂĄs Maduro.
On that day in 2019, the Donald Trump administration appointed little-known Venezuelan opposition politician Juan GuaidĂł, who had never received a single vote in a presidential election, as supposed âinterim presidentâ of the Caribbean nation.
At the peak of the US-led coup attempt, fewer than 60 of the 193 UN member states recognized GuaidĂł. And that number has dropped precipitously since then.
One of GuaidĂłâs top former functionaries, the right-wing Venezuelan opposition politician Julio Borges, has admitted in an interview that a maximum of just 15 countries still recognize GuaidĂł as of January 2022.
Major Western media outlets have acknowledged that Guaidó does not actually control anything inside Venezuela, other than what the United States stole for him.
RELATED CONTENT: Less Than 15 Countries Recognize GuaidĂłâs Fictitious Presidency
Yet the Joe Biden administration has maintained Trumpâs policy of support for GuaidĂł.
This recognition has continued despite November 2021 regional elections in Venezuela, which were observed by the European Union, in which GuaidĂłâs party faced a crushing defeat, and the United Socialist Party (PSUV) of President Maduro won in a landslide.
The nations that still refuse to recognize Venezuelaâs constitutional President Maduro consist primarily of the United States and its right-wing allies in Latin America, including Colombia, Brazil, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Ecuador, along with the Washington-controlled Organization of American States (OAS).
The Liberal Justin Trudeau government of Canada still backs GuaidĂł as well.
Britain is one of the only remaining European countries that refuses to acknowledge Maduro â partially because, by continuing to formally recognize GuaidĂł, it provides a judicial excuse for the Bank of England to steal nearly $2 billion worth of Venezuelan gold.
GuaidĂłâs coup regime in fact used money illegally seized from Venezuelaâs Central Bank to pay legal costs in the UK, in its efforts to control these billions of dollars worth of looted Venezuelan gold, journalist John McEvoy revealed.
Even Spain, which harbors Venezuelan fugitives from justice who organized violent coup attempts against the Chavista government, no longer really recognizes GuaidĂł.
Perhaps the most powerful member of Venezuelaâs political opposition, Leopoldo LĂłpez, a right-wing extremist from an ultra-wealthy oligarch family, lives in Madrid, where he has enjoyed the support of the Spanish government. This is despite the fact that LĂłpez admitted to orchestrating violent coup attempts and plotting a failed invasion of Venezuela in May 2020, known as Operation Gideon.
RELATED CONTENT: GuaidĂł Knew About Operation Gideon, Claims His Strategist RendĂłn
In an implicit admission that all of these efforts at overthrowing Venezuelaâs legitimate government had failed, the European Union stopped recognizing Guaidó as of January 2021.
Julio Borges, the Venezuelan opposition politician who said a maximum of just 15 countries still recognize GuaidĂł, knows from firsthand experience.
Borges previously served as so-called âforeign ministerâ for GuaidĂłâs parallel coup regime, which has never exercised power inside Venezuela and was never voted on by the Venezuelan people.
Borges resigned from GuaidĂłâs coup regime in December 2021, saying the unelected âinterim government has been deformed,â and âit should disappear.â
Featured image: File photo.
Ben Norton
Benjamin Norton is the founder and editor of the independent news website Multipolarista, where he does original reporting in both English and Spanish. Benjamin has reported from numerous countries, including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, and more. His journalistic work has been published in dozens of media outlets, and he has done interviews on Sky News, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now, El Financiero Bloomberg, Al Mayadeen teleSUR, RT, TRT World, CGTN, Press TV, HispanTV, Sin Censura, and various TV channels in Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Benjamin writes a regular column for Al Mayadeen (in English and Spanish). He was formerly a reporter with the investigative journalism website The Grayzone, and previously produced the political podcast and video show Moderate Rebels. His personal website is BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.
