Colombia has expelled a Venezuelan opposition figure, Juan Guaido, who arrived "
irregularly
" in the country a few hours before the opening Tuesday in Bogota of an international conference on Venezuela.
"
They force me to leave Colombia
," said Juan Guaido in a video posted on Twitter and filmed on the plane that took him to the United States.
“
The persecution of the dictatorship unfortunately reached Colombia today
”.
Re-election contested
He said he was on a commercial flight, explaining that he had traveled "
sixty hours to get to Bogota
" where he announced on Monday that he would be.
He entered Colombia on foot, confirmed a source close to the opponent.
The Venezuelan opponent was considered by the United States as the de facto president of his country in early 2019, after the disputed re-election in May 2018 of President Nicolas Maduro.
At the end of 2022, the divided Venezuelan opposition put an end to the "
interim government
" of Juan Guaido.
Juan Guaido is officially banned from leaving Venezuela and targeted by several Venezuelan justice procedures, including one for "
treason
".
At the initiative of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, around twenty countries, including the United States and France, are to meet on Tuesday in Bogota to try to relaunch the negotiations started in Mexico City in August 2021 but on hold since November.
Read alsoDeath of "El Conejo", one of Venezuela's most wanted criminals
Neither the opposition nor the Venezuelan authorities were invited.
But Juan Guaido had made it known that he wanted to meet conference participants.
He also called for demonstrations on Tuesday near the San Carlos Palace where the conference is taking place.
"
I hope the summit can ensure that the Maduro regime returns to the negotiating table in Mexico and that a credible timetable for free and fair elections is agreed upon as a solution to the conflict," he said in a statement
.
Monday evening, a source close to the Venezuelan opponent told AFP that the Colombian government had "
forced
" Juan Guaido to leave the territory.
The Colombian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday evening that Juan Guaido entered the country "
irregularly
" and was "
taken to El Dorado Airport (Bogota)
" to verify his departure to the United States on a commercial flight for where he bought his ticket.
Primary candidate
Candidate for the Venezuelan opposition primaries scheduled for November 22 for the 2024 presidential election in Venezuela, Juan Guaido has planned to continue a tour of other countries after Colombia.
His program is not being broadcast for security reasons, according to a source in his cabinet who stressed that Juan Guaido intended to return to his country although there is no date yet: "
he will not be a candidate for the outside
”.
Colombia was Juan Guaido's main ally in the region when it was chaired by Gustavo Petro's predecessor, the conservative Ivan Duque who had severed diplomatic relations with Nicolas Maduro.
Juan Petro, Colombia's first left-wing president, moved closer to Caracas, restoring diplomatic relations and getting involved in the political negotiation process in Venezuela.
Read alsoVenezuela resumes exporting oil to the United States
Last Thursday, Gustavo Petro asked US President Joe Biden to gradually lift sanctions against Venezuela in exchange for guarantees for the presidential election scheduled for 2024.
Nicolas Maduro for his part minimized the scope of the Bogota conference.
"
If anyone among (them) wants the negotiations (...) to return to Mexico, just do one thing (...): demand that the United States deposit the 3.2 billion dollars in bank accounts (...) for the social plan signed in Mexico in November
,” Nicolas Maduro told state television.
He was referring to funds frozen by international sanctions intended for social programs under an agreement between power and the opposition in November.
"
If there is no application of the Mexico agreement, forget this path
", added Nicolas Maduro, qualifying the visit of Juan Guaido, calling it "
untimely, inopportune (...) and fool
”.
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