Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom the U.S. and many in the region consider the country’s rightful leader, shot down reports Thursday he and his aides were negotiating with the regime of socialist President Nicolas Maduro on a power-sharing deal that could lead to new elections.
With the strong backing of the Trump administration, Mr. Guaido has been locked in a deepening political stalemate with Mr. Maduro, even as the country faces a humanitarian and economic crisis compounded now by fears of a looming coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. recently floated its own plan for a transition of power in Caracas — immediately rejected by Mr. Maduro — and new reports this week surfaced that representatives of the government and the opposition had begun secret “exploratory talks” on a new political settlement.
But Mr. Guaido, the leader of the opposition in Venezuela’s national parliament firmly denied that in a Washington teleconference Thursday.
“No, there are no negotiations or remediations whatsoever,” Mr. Guaido said via translator during a virtual conversation hosted by the Atlantic Council. “Right now the dictator is using our efforts in an unusual way, in the wrong way.”
The Reuters news agency, citing what it said were several sources familiar with the discussions, said the closed-door talks were born out of the increasing urgency of the coronavirus threat, coupled with increasing fuel shortages and crippling U.S. sanctions on the Maduro government and the Venezuelan oil sector.
Mr. Guaido’s claim to be the country’s “interim president” — based on what he says was Mr. Maduro’s fraud-ridden reelection win in 2018 — has been recognized by the U.S. and some 60 other countries. But the stubborn Mr. Maduro has so far successfully resisted an intense Trump administration campaign to drive him from power or to entice Venezuela’s powerful military to abandon the regime.
In a televised broadcast over the weekend, Mr. Maduro said his government was “ready for dialogue, to understand one another and reach a humanitarian agreement to attend to the coronavirus [pandemic].”
The government of Norway organized talks between the two camps last year in which Mr. Guaido’s supporters pressed for new presidential elections. But the talks broke down after Mr. Maduro protested against new U.S. sanctions on his government.
But Mr. Guaido’s renunciation Thursday of the rumored new round of talks suggests that the country’s political impasse is far from being resolved.
As of Thursday, Venezuela has reported 298 cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, 10 deaths and 122 recoveries.
Mr. Guaido on Thursday said he has been offered opportunities by the European Union and the Organization of American States to address the emergency pandemic and ultimately “reach a transition.”
“We will require financial support from the international community to address the health emergency,” Mr. Guaido said, as he painted a grim picture of how the coronavirus pandemic may hammer the country.
The World Food Program this week placed Venezuela on par with countries such as Yemen, Syria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria, and Haiti as at risk of famine from the coronavirus outbreak and the resulting damage to the economy. The country has just 300 ventilators — a key medical tool in aiding patients who have contracted COVID-19 — among its 28 million people, Mr. Guaido said.
He said $20 million has entered Venezuela through a “robust operation,” that is believed to have come from offshore accounts controlled by Mr. Guaido’s opposition party. But it is not enough to protect the country from diving further into the humanitarian crisis.
The country’s health care system has virtually collapsed from high demand for medical assistance and a lack of supplies.
Most put the blame on the socialist policies of the government, which have led to record poverty and joblessness despite Venezuela’s vast energy resources. But Mr. Maduro himself points to the sanctions the U.S. has placed on the government in an effort to push the socialist leader out.
Mr. Guaido, who has struggled to maintain the momentum of his insurgency as the struggle with the government grinds on, made clear he has no future for his rival in any future political settlement.
“We need help, we need assistance,” Mr. Guaido said. “We will not be able to get a solution to this awful emergency with Nicolas Maduro at the front of the government.”
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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