Leopoldo López travels to Colombia to try to consolidate an international bloc against Maduro

Leopoldo López speaks during an event in support of Venezuelans in Madrid, last Sunday.Mariscal / EFE

Leopoldo López began a visit to Colombia on Wednesday with the purpose of consolidating the international bloc against the Government of Nicolás Maduro.

The first destination of the opposition leader after Spain, where his family lives and decided to settle, has great symbolism because of its weight in the balances of the serious crisis that Venezuela is suffering.

The Andean country welcomed more than two of the five million Venezuelans who, according to the United Nations estimate, in recent years left in search of opportunities.

And, along with the State of Florida, it is the epicenter of the exodus of opposition leaders.

The Colombian president, Iván Duque, has also been one of the main supporters of Juan Guaidó in his fight with Maduro.

López's trip, which according to his team has the objective of strengthening the international alliance against Chavismo as the same politician anticipated upon his arrival in Madrid, takes place days after the holding of parliamentary elections that have taken control of the Assembly National to the opposition forces and that they registered a 70% abstention amid enormous disinterest.

The founder of the Voluntad Popular party also intends to promote the alternative consultation to those elections, called by Guaidó, which will be held in person this Saturday in Venezuela and in various capitals of America and Europe.

López, who in Colombia plans to meet with representatives of the Duque government and other authorities from international organizations, has been away from his country for less than two months.

At the end of October, he left the residence of the Spanish Embassy in Caracas by surprise, where he had been sheltered since May 2019, left Venezuela on a trip whose route has not yet been clarified and flew to Madrid.

From Spain, where he met with the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, he has started a campaign to try to explain the crisis to different international bodies and at the same time try to unite opposition currents operating from abroad.

The opposition to Maduro faces an extremely critical moment because Guaidó and his allies have de facto lost control of Parliament, their main political platform.

The demobilization, which not only affects Chavismo but also the anti-Chavista bases, has once again raised internal tensions that for months were kept more contained by expectations of change.

Henrique Capriles was about to stand for legislative elections, although he finally gave up due to lack of guarantees.

In any case, he has embarked on a clearly different path from Guaidó in search of a short-term electoral competition.

And López's tour is framed precisely in this context of promoting the initiatives presented by Guaidó to prevent Maduro's rival from suffering further setbacks.