Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guaidó arrived this Tuesday in the United States after being expelled from Colombia for entering the country in an “irregular” manner.
He has denounced that the “persecution” he suffers in Venezuela “was felt in Colombia in some way” and has shown his concern for the welfare of his family.
Guaidó indicated upon his arrival at the Miami airport that he arrived in Bogota by road from the city of Cúcuta “to participate in an agenda with meetings with international delegations.”
He defended that it is something that the Colombian Foreign Minister, Álvaro Leyva, requested in the framework of the summit to be held this Tuesday on the situation in Venezuela.
Thus, he explained that his objective was not to participate in the conference but in meetings “in the framework” of the same.
He also demanded the participants to “speak in the name of Human Rights, of the Venezuelans under refuge” and “to raise their voice, that which (the president of Venezuela, Nicolás) Maduro wants to take away, and we will not allow him to do so”.
The opponent pointed out that the Colombian authorities “were respectful” during the legal procedures and said he found out about the decision due to the “threats of deportation” of Leyva, which he has equated to pronouncements of “a dictatorship”.
“You do not return a migrant or a refugee to a murderous dictatorship that tortures and systematically violates human rights,” he denounced.
In this sense, he is “very concerned” for his family and work team and has warned that “they saw the consequences of a dictatorship, tortured, persecuted and at this moment directly threatened.”
“They received calls threatening them directly.”
“We saw how the dictatorship on other occasions has responded directly against our work team,” he pointed out without giving further details.
He also pointed out that he is thinking “of the millions of Venezuelan migrants who have traveled the roads, who have had migratory difficulties due to lack of papers, lack of identity, persecuted by a dictatorship, hungry, looking for opportunities.”
Guaidó indicated that he started the journey “to seek solutions” for these people and outlined that he had been traveling for “70 hours or more.”
Hours earlier, the Colombian Foreign Ministry detailed that Guaidó was transferred to El Dorado airport “to verify his departure on a commercial airline to the United States” after entering the country in an “irregular” manner.
Likewise, he assured that Guaidó bought a ticket to fly on the commercial airline and added, “It is not true then that the national government had a plane to transfer Mr. Guaidó to that country.”
Guaidó traveled by surprise to Colombia this Monday to attend the international summit of political dialogue on Venezuela that will take place this Tuesday, organized by the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro.
However, the Colombian government confirmed shortly after that Guaidó was not invited to the summit and only invited states would participate in the talks.
The summit is intended to relaunch the dialogue between the parties in Venezuela under the premise of seeking “more democracy” and “zero sanctions” against the South American nation.
The initiative has been applauded by Maduro, who considers it “a good opportunity” to “overcome problems and turn the page of this tortuous time of criminal sanctions”.
The United States confirmed on Saturday its participation in the meeting, which will also be attended by the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell.
With information from LGI