Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaid arrives in Colombia, defying travel ban and risking arrest

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela — Venezuelan soldiers opened fire on a group of civilians attempting to keep open a segment of the southern border with Brazil for deliveries of humanitarian aid, causing two fatalities and multiple injuries, according to eyewitnesses and community leaders.

The violence unfolded as the United States and the government of embattled President Nicolás Maduro defused at least one immediate source of tension — a looming deadline on Monday for all American and Venezuelan diplomats to respectively depart Caracas and Washington. The agreement bought both sides more time to negotiate a longer-term diplomatic presence after the rupture of official relations last month.

Later Friday, Juan Guaidó, the head of the Venezuelan opposition who has claimed the nation’s mantel of legitimate leadership and called Maduro a “usurper,” made a surprise appearance in the border city of Cucuta, Colombia, after a secretive trip by land from the capital of Caracas. His arrival to assist in the effort to cart humanitarian aid across the border smacked of an embarrassment for Maduro.

In a joint news conference with the presidents of Colombia, Chile and Paraguay, Guaidó suggested the Venezuelan armed forces had facilitated his arrival across the border.

“And I say thank you, and I thank the people of Venezuela, too, for their support,” he said. “Tomorrow, Feb. 23, a month after assuming the presidency, all of Venezuela will be in the street to urge humanitarian aid to get in.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/one-dead-multiple-injured-after-venezuelan-national-guard-opens-fire-on-opposition-supporters/2019/02/22/09d60f1a-3518-11e9-8375-e3dcf6b68558_story.html?utm_term=.8595a5c91ed6&wpisrc=al_news__alert-world--alert-national&wpmk=1

[juxtaposed]

1. they should put him in jail and all of his enablers too.

[EX500rider]

9. If you mean Maduro I agree. nt

[moondust]

2. Two dead, 14 injured

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article226624859.html

David Corn is probably on the right track:

Link to tweet

Doesn't VZ have some trusted elder statesmen who could take over the government and fix the place? Start over without Maduro and without Trump/Bolsonaro puppet Guaido who will probably just make himself and his buddies rich allowing foreign corporations to rape the oil and leave Venezuelans with nothing?

[EX500rider]

10. "Doesn't VZ have some statesmen who could take over the government and fix the place?"

Sure, how about the President of the National Assembly?
A Mr Juan Gerardo Guaidó Márquez.

[moondust]

11. No thanks.

An inexperienced, opportunistic petroleum puppet working for Trump and Bolsonaro is not what they need IMO.

[EX500rider]

12. So he's a "oil puppet" because you say so?

I say he's from a middle class family, his father was an airline pilot and his mother, a teacher. One grandfather was a sergeant of the Venezuelan National Guard while another grandfather was a captain in the Venezuelan Navy and he earned his undergraduate degree in 2007 in industrial engineering from Andrés Bello Catholic University. He also completed two postgraduate programs in public administration at George Washington University in the United States and at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración in Caracas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Guaid%C3%B3
Sounds like a better background for public office then a former bus driver.

He is also the Constitutional successor as interim president to Maduro if the election is declared illegitimate which it was.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Venezuelan_presidential_election


Together with Leopoldo López and other politicians, Guaidó was a founding member of the Popular Will political party in 2009, the party is affiliated with Socialist International.

Popular Will (Spanish: Voluntad Popular, abbreviated VP) describes itself as a progressive social-democratic political party in Venezuela admitted into the Socialist International in December 2014.
The party was formed in reaction to alleged infringements of individual freedom and human rights on the part of the government of the Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro. The party attempts to bring together Venezuelans of various backgrounds who consider Chavismo oppressive and authoritarian. Popular Will self-identifies itself as “a pluralist and democratic movement” that is committed to “progress,” which it defines as the realization of “the social, economic, political, and human rights of every Venezuelan.”
The party says its "fundamental pillars" are progress, democracy, and social action.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Will

[ripcord]

3. Hopefully Guaid can get the aid safely into the hands of the starving Venezuelans

But Maduro has the guns and doesn't mind using them on civilians. The thought of this dictator turning his goons loose on people who just want to eat is disgusting.

[CrossingTheRubicon]

4. Spot on.

Maduro is a thug and he will kill people to maintain his dictatorship.

The sooner he is gone the better.

[malaise]

5. Maduro is the elected President

Heal thyself!

[ripcord]

7. I'm truly amazed anyone would be supporting this dictator

I suppose they must consider blocking aid to starving people and having the military fire on civilians acceptable.

[EX500rider]

8. "Maduro is the elected President" Sure he is...in a stolen election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Venezuelan_presidential_election

[JI7]

6. i don't trust this guy much but Maduro has proven he can't be trusted and has destroyed the country