Guaidó: End of Venezuela’s interim presidency ‘a mistake;’ Maduro won’t go ‘voluntarily’

Six months after fleeing Venezuela, the country he attempted to lead as interim president for four years, Juan Guaidó, 40, now exiled in the United States, says he is still as committed as ever to the cause of freedom in Venezuela and the possibility of unseating strongman Nicolás Maduro in presidential elections next year.

“Never heard of people going to Miami and growing gray hair,” former Colombia President Iván Duque joked before hugging Guaidó at a Latin America’s leaders event in Miami last week.

At 40, Guaidó’s hair has turned gray after he, at the time the leader of the opposition-led National Assembly, assumed the interim presidency in Jan. 2019, a gamble supported by the United States and dozens of other countries to isolate Maduro and gain momentum to force regime change.

But fractured opposition parties voted on Jan. 5 this year to get rid of the interim president entirely, a decision Guaidó called “a mistake” in an interview with the Miami Herald.

Currently teaching at Florida International University in Miami, he remains hopeful that the opposition has carved out another chance to challenge Maduro’s rule by unifying forces behind Maria Corina Machado, the candidate who won the recent opposition primaries. But he warns that Maduro, who has led the oil-rich nation to a humanitarian crisis that has pushed seven million Venezuelans to emigrate, will not go voluntarily.

He discussed the prospects of Maduro leaving power in an interview edited for clarity and conciseness.

Q: Do you really believe that Nicolás Maduro and Diosdado Cabello — Venezuela’s number two— will eventually leave power if there are free elections and the candidate María Corina Machado wins?

A: Not voluntarily; it is a dictatorship. Today, as we speak, there was a hearing at the International Criminal Court. Rarely in history have we seen a de facto regime, in the case of Maduro, being singled out, investigated and accused of crimes against humanity. The person responsible for that is Maduro.

What we are trying to do in Venezuela is not asking the dictatorship for a favor; it is not begging for our rights; it’s fighting for them. When we held a primary a few weeks ago, we did it because we believe in the people, in legitimacy, in democracy, even under a dictatorship. Parallel to that, understanding that it is a dictatorship, we are looking for an agreement so that Maduro complies with the basics and respects our election, the primary’s result, Maria Corina Machado. We are very aware that Maduro is a dictator and that we must force him.

We held the primary elections, reunified the opposition and created a new opportunity for Venezuelans facing 2024. That was not a gift; it was tough. In fact, I am in exile partly for that reason because I have been promoting that primary for more than a year.

Q: Do you think that Maduro is buying time? There is little precedent for leftist dictators leaving power.

A: Maduro’s objective is to buy time; it is relaxing international pressure. And our job is to make it as short as possible. We already have a date, 2024. He will not abandon power on his own or have an epiphany today and realize that he destroyed the country. Mobilizing the majority of Venezuelans who want change is a powerful exercise in itself. Is that going to be the only thing we need? No. We need international pressure again.

Q: But the Biden administration right now is trying to offer a “carrot” to Maduro and remove some oil sanctions with the idea that he accepts some conditions. The trend is not to impose more sanctions but to remove them.

A: [The stick and the carrot] have to come simultaneously; they are two sides of the same coin. That is to say, there is no negotiation without pressure because, in fact, you can withdraw sanctions because they exist. The administration has been very vocal that if Maduro does not comply with something as simple as the qualification of our candidate, our sovereign election as Venezuelans, more sanctions will come, and it is the right thing to do. We are not expecting good faith from a dictatorship; we cannot expect it, not us, the Americans, the Europeans or the Canadians.

Q: Ultimately, there is a U.S. Department of Justice indictment against Maduro.

A: And the International Criminal Court.

Q: Even if some concessions are offered and some sanctions removed, there is a federal indictment. Would that be in play, too?

A: It is a matter of American justice. I will not comment on the independence of powers in the United States, which is something I long for in my country. It also concerns justice and the rule of law, which we also do not have in Venezuela. One of the tragedies of the fight for democracy, not only in Venezuela but in Nicaragua, Cuba, Belarus, and Uganda, is who forces these dictators to comply with the law. So that is a challenge that the modern world has.

Q: You mentioned Cuba. It is believed that the Cubans are the ones advising Maduro. Does anyone believe that the Cubans would be willing to allow Maduro to leave power and the opposition to take control?

A: The Cubans have undoubtedly not only protected Maduro but also assisted with intelligence and financially, not because they give him money, but because they are being used to launder money or pass through the island much of Maduro’s ill-gotten money.

A: As interim president, did you ever see any evidence of those shady deals with Havana?

Q: Being in the streets protesting, I saw how a Cuban gave orders to Venezuelan soldiers in the streets. I witnessed it, I lived it, we identified it. He even ran away to try to keep from being photographed.

At this point in history, we cannot be naive about the dictatorships’ alliances and their criminal alignment for money laundering, weapons laundering and terrorism, not only regionally when we talk about the ELN [guerrillas], the dissidents of the FARC, but also Maduro’s links with Hamas, how they have used Venezuela as a safe haven for these groups.

We are doing our part well even though we have yet to achieve everything we want to achieve. We reunified the opposition; we innovated democratically with an interim government supported by the United States and 60 other countries. We have mobilized Venezuela time and again in the streets, resisting murders, torture, persecution and censorship of the media. You cannot blame the people of Venezuela in that sense, those of us who have resisted and fought. Now, what else is missing? We must improve the tools to hold dictators accountable, including sanctions. Sanctions are a great tool to hold dictatorships responsible. Static over time, like any rock hit by the sea, they deteriorate. They must be effective. International measures cannot be symbolic. I speak, for example, of the Inter-American Charter of Human Rights. That today is poetry; today, it is symbolic. If it were fulfilled, we would not be in trouble in Venezuela, Nicaragua or Cuba.

Q: Do you think it was a mistake on the part of the Venezuelan opposition and the Biden administration to let this interim presidency that you led for all those months dissolve?

A: The primary responsibility lies with the political parties that did not vote for the continuity of the interim government. Obviously, it was a mistake. It is a mistake because it hinders something essential for any democratic process, which is dialogue, leadership, and trust in communication, not only within the country but with allied countries. So, it is a mistake for something as essential as that because you in no way diminish your tools. What we did in practice was to undermine a tool that we already had achieved, innovative and unprecedented in what it means to fight for democracy and internal resistance. I managed to resist for four and a half years in Venezuela because I had the support and communication channels.

Q: But don’t you think the administration’s support started to erode?

A: In terms of communications and publicly, no, and the administration has been very vocal in that they were going to respect our decision, and they respected it in some way. Today, they maintain support for the National Assembly.

Q: But it is one thing to respect; another thing really is to give decisive support.

A: Well, I believe that there are things in the future and immediately that we can improve together with the U.S. administration, the Canadians, Europe, and obviously the Venezuelans are doing it. We don’t just stay in pain and stay stuck. We achieved the extension of the political leadership of the Unitary Platform in Venezuela; we managed to have a primary elections commission and a primary date. So today, I feel not only satisfied as a Venezuelan but also in what my role was and what it is today, which is different.

That we have achieved this new opportunity has nothing to do with Juan Guaidó, obviously, but rather, it has to do with the resistance we have had as a society and as a political leadership. We faced internal attacks, but it is part of what we must go through to confront this type of regime. The attacks against me did not begin this year; they have been constant and orchestrated, mainly by a dictatorship, with the collaboration undoubtedly of Russia, its media and its propaganda machine.

We are facing a serious threat to democracy in the world, and what is happening in Venezuela is an example of resistance. We have not achieved what we want, but we are trying, insisting with great force and certainty that we can achieve it.