The government of Gustavo Petro put an end to Juan Guaidó’s Colombian odyssey, by forcing his departure on Monday night on an overnight flight to Miami. First, it was the threats from Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva (“If he does not show up, he runs a risk because he entered inappropriately and in Colombia we comply with the laws”) and then the presence of Migration agents made it clear to the former president in charge of Venezuela that he was not welcome at Colombia.
“The persecution of the dictatorship was also felt in Colombia. A refugee is not returned to a dictatorship,” Guaidó complained to a small group of journalists at the Miami international airport. Dressed in jeans and a gray sweater, and with only a small backpack on his shoulder as luggage, the opposition leader described his flight from Venezuela and the unexpected outcome due to the work and grace of Nicolás Maduro’s alliance with the coffee president: “Petro set a position” , summed up Guaidó, confronting who he calls himself “peace articulator” for Venezuela.
As reported by Voluntad Popular (VP), a party led by former political prisoner Leopoldo López, its electoral standard-bearer was approached in Bogotá by a Colombian Migration commission that “forced him to go to the airport under duress that if he refused he would be deported and handed over.” to the authorities of the Maduro regime, as happened in 2014 with the activist Lorent Saleh”. VP accuses Petro of maintaining an “unconditional commitment to the dictator Maduro.”
“There was everything,” stressed Guaidó, who highlighted the “respectful” treatment of immigration agents, “despite the threats of deportation (from the foreign minister) to a murderous dictatorship that tortures and violates human rights.”
“Gustavo Petro’s government responds to the interests of the dictatorship and not to freedom and democracy,” protested his wife, Fabiana Rosales. “It was blackmail,” confirmed opposition sources to EL MUNDO. Rosales and hers have stayed in Caracas, two of her little girls, in addition to her work team, all of them under Bolivarian pressure. “I would like to give details but their lives are at risk,” warned the former legislative head of the democratic Parliament.
The siege had tightened to the maximum since the opposition leader announced that he had crossed the border on foot, despite the prohibitions on leaving the country that the Maduro regime has maintained since February 2019. The final outcome has called into question, once again, the alliance between Caracas and Bogotá, which yesterday tried to justify its position amidst contradictions.
“International regulations allow an applicant for asylum and refuge to enter illegally. How many persecuted Colombians entered Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil and many other countries without asking for permission. With all due respect, I think it created a bad precedent,” said the human rights activist. Marino Alvarado directly to Petro.
The concern was not only reflected on Monday among the Colombian leadership, the Venezuelan opposition also reacted stiffly. Within the negotiating commission that remains in Colombia, some of its members were in favor of Guaidó leaving the coffee country immediately, according to what EL MUNDO learned from opposition sources.
In Caracas, after a first pronouncement by the conservative leader María Corina Machado, it was middle managers and the bases who pushed their leaders to show their solidarity with Guaidó. “No Venezuelan should be pressured to leave their country,” said Henrique Capriles hours later, a candidate for the opposition primaries like Guaidó and Machado.
“The persecution against a personality that has lasted so long on the front line, coinciding with the maximalist pressure of Chavismo to want everything without offering anything more than vague promises, represents an escalation of the crisis,” said Armando Chaguaceda, one of the main specialists. in revolutions of the continent.
“The only positive effect that it can have is before that sector of public and political opinion of regional progressivism to make it very difficult for them to defend Maduro and clearly show that he does not want a normalization of relations, not even with an accompanied multilateral process of dialogue. that leads to elections. They simply want the tacit acceptance of the dictatorial status quo with nothing in return,” the historian said.
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