With 72 votes in favour, 29 against and eight abstentions, Juan Guaidó was removed from the interim presidency of Venezuela, who took office on January 23, 2019.
After an intense discussion, disagreements and struggles, the decision eliminated the interim government but keeps the National Assembly elected in 2015 and whose constitutional period ended in 2020.
The opposition majority has insisted that “the interim did not meet its objectives” but that parliament must be maintained to “protect” assets abroad and continue to “fight” against Chavismo.
In an online session, chaired by Juan Guaidó, those who supported him to continue leading parliament and the interim administration assured that the decision to end the presidency in charge was a sign of a divided opposition that affected the possible victory of the 2024 presidential elections.
(Also read: Guaidó, on a tightrope: why does the opposition ask to eliminate the interim presidency?)
Juan Miguel Matheus, deputy from the Primero Justicia (PJ) party who, together with Acción Democrática and Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT), called for the elimination of the interim, assured that it was not a question of removing Guaidó, since “in a generous manner every January 5 he we have given the vote generously”, but “it is not fair that he is placed as a victim and the parties as executioners”.
Matheus was one of the creators of the Transition Statute, which gave the possibility of protecting assets abroad and giving legality to the figure of Guaidó based on article 233 of the Constitution.
“It is not true that the interim government exists in the Constitution,” Matheus stressed. “Precisely because it does not exist in the Constitution, we began to work on the Transition Statute.”
It would be vital to prevent the dictator from being recognized
Guaidó proclaimed himself “president in charge” of Venezuela in January 2019, in a public square, with the recognition of fifty countries.
(Also: Venezuela: Plasencia leaves the embassy in Colombia and a substitute is unknown)
International support for his proposal, however, weakened. The United States has sought rapprochement with Maduro, in the midst of the oil crisis caused by sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, and Latin American countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Argentina have recently turned to the left in their governments.
Guaidó, a member of the Voluntad Popular (VP) party – of exiled leader Leopoldo López – had assured before the vote that ending the interim period would entail the “risk” of allowing Maduro to regain control of Venezuelan resources blocked abroad by sanctions.
In addition, in an interview published this Thursday in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Guaidó had assured that it would be “vital” to maintain the “interim government” of the anti-Chavista opposition to prevent President Nicolás Maduro from being recognized internationally.
“I remain firm and I believe that we are going to manage to preserve article 233 by which the presidency in charge is sustained, which for us is central. It would be vital to prevent the dictator from being recognized,” he commented hours before the vote.
(You can read: Maduro calls for the lifting of all sanctions in exchange for ‘free elections’)
In the last modification of the Transition Statute, made on January 5, 2022, it was decided that the interim period would be extended for another year, but the decision to terminate Guaidó’s work finally came on December 30.
Now, the opposition plans to hold primaries in 2023 to choose a single candidate to face Maduro in the next presidential elections, scheduled for 2024. Guaidó sounds among the possible candidates.
ANA MARIA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
WEATHER CORRESPONDENT
CARACAS
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