Former interim president of Venezuela Juan Guaidó surprisingly appeared on Tuesday as one of the speakers at the Washington Conference on the Americas, an annual event organized in the US capital by the ‘Council of the Americas’ Think Tank, in which he brings together leaders from the region to discuss the most pressing issues in the Western Hemisphere with an emphasis on trade, finance and democracy.
(Furthermore: Juan Guaidó: “I left Venezuela for Colombia as a politically persecuted person”)
The event, cataloged as the most important regional forum of the year, is usually held at the offices of the State Department.
But this time The Organization of American States was chosen for the first time as the venue for the dialogue.OAS.
According to sources consulted by this newspaper, the decision to invite Guaidó was made by the Council of the Americas. The former interim president arrived in the United States on Tuesday of last week after his forced departure from Colombia, when he appeared unexpectedly with the aim of participating in the International Conference on Venezuela organized in Bogotá by the government of President Gustavo Petro.
(Also read: Maduro: “US decision on Citgo is a slap in the face to the Bogotá summit”)
Colombian President Gustavo Petro declared through his Twitter account that Guaidó’s departure from Colombian territory was not a deportation. “Mr. Guaidó was not expelled, it is better that the lie does not appear in politics,” wrote the leftist president.
Petro also questioned that the opposition politician entered the country illegally and indicated that he would have given him political asylum if he requested it.
In an interview with this newspaper and in other statements to the media since he arrived in the US, Guaidó has said that Petro risked the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro by removing him from the country, where he arrived as a political persecutor of the regime.
The Colombian government has insisted that the former interim president entered the country irregularly and that for security reasons he was allowed to leave for the United States.
(It may interest you: Summit in Bogotá was not a victory for Maduro, says Venezuelan opposition)
Thank you for bringing the voice of the resistance, of those who face the dictatorship, of those who want to return to our country to stop that fear.
Although Guaidó already had a robust agenda in Washington for this week, which includes visits to Congress and talks at think tanks, his platform at the Washington Conference for the Americas contrasts with the outcome of his attempt to appear at the International Conference on Venezuela that was held in Bogota.
“Thank you for bringing the voice of resistance, of those who face the dictatorship, of those who want to return to our country to stop that fear. Thank you for being that voice, for resisting the temptation of dictators and defending human rights. I am here because I survived. There are thousands who cannot tell this story. Let’s tell the story of survival and that it resists the horrors in my country,” Guaidó said.
According to the former interim president, the only way to progress “is with democracy and respect for human rights.”
(Furthermore: Guaidó: ‘President Petro set his position, sided with the dictatorship’)
Luis Almagro, OAS Secretary General and another attendee, thanked Guaidó for his courage in confronting “a dictatorship famous for its crimes against humanity, for torturing and arresting people, and for extrajudicial executions.”
At the conference the issue of Venezuela also came up in another question to Senator Hagerty, of the Republican party.
“Venezuela is destabilizing the region and we all know it. We have sanctions in place and we must apply them and only reduce them when we see real and concrete steps towards democracy. It would be foolish to relax them without being completely sure that we are going to get the response we are looking for” Hagerty said.
The event included other speakers such as the President of the World Bank, David Malpass; the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Ilan Goldfajn; the president of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo Cohen; the Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols; US Trade Representative Katherine Tai; and Senator Bill Hagerty among others.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
#Guaidós #surprise #participation #Washington #Conference #America