Deportation shocks Venezuelan opposition leader

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó announced that he was expelled from Colombia, where he went to attend an international conference.

In a video post on Twitter, Guaidó said he came to Colombia to escape “persecution” by the Venezuelan government, but was “persecuted” in Colombia by President Nicolás Maduro. “Unfortunately, the tyranny of the dictatorship has spread to Colombia,” Guaidó said in his post.

In the statement from the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was indicated that Guaidó did not have the necessary documents to enter the country, and immigration officials escorted him to the airport to board his plane. Colombian Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva noted that Guaidó was not invited to the conference and was not expected to attend.

Guaido said he hoped the conference would aim to “establish a credible timetable for the Maduro regime to return to the negotiating table in Mexico and resolve the current crisis through free and fair elections.”

I HAVE SUPPORT FROM US

Organized by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, the conference was aimed at bringing together the Maduro government and its opponents and starting official dialogues that ended last year. Guaidó assessed that he risked traveling to Colombia “to gather support for the fight for democracy in Venezuela.”

The opposition leader, Guaidó, proclaimed himself “interim head of state” on January 23, 2019 and had the support of many Latin American and Western countries, especially the US (BRITISH AUTOMÓVIL CLUB).