Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro must allow top opposition leader Juan Guaido to return to the country safely, said the European Union’s top diplomat.
“In this respect any measure that could put at risk Juan Guaidó’s freedom, safety, or personal integrity would represent a major escalation of tensions and meet the firm condemnation of the international community,” Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s top diplomat, said in a Saturday message.
Guaido flouted a Maduro regime travel ban to participate in a Feb. 23 effort to deliver humanitarian aid from Colombia over the objections of the regime’s security forces. He has spent the ensuing week on a diplomatic tour of friendly South American nations, raising questions about when he would return to continue leading anti-regime protests and whether Maduro would try to punish him for leaving the country without permission.
“The members of National Assembly enjoy constitutionally granted immunity that needs to be fully respected,” Mogherini said. “They should be able to exercise their parliamentary mandate free of intimidation on them or their family members.”
The European Union has not recognized Guaido’s claim as interim president because some members of the bloc, which makes major foreign policy decisions unanimously, have declined to do so. Instead, the European Commission, which functions as the EU’s executive branch, is “giving support to the National Assembly” — which Guaido leads as the top lawmaker — while calling for new elections. Most of the major European Union member states have recognized him outright as interim president, as has the European Parliament.
Guaido, whom Trump recognized first as interim president under Venezuela’s constitution on Jan. 23, is headed for a high-stakes political game of chicken with Maduro whenever he returns to Caracas.
“For the government, the best case scenario is that Guaido doesn’t return,” Felix Seijas, the head of a Venezuelan polling firm, told Bloomberg. “Guaido is trying to raise the stakes of being imprisoned.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s top lieutenant for the crisis believes Guaido is succeeding in that effort, though a return remains dangerous.
“You saw Juan Guaido become much more of an international figure in the last week than he had previously been,” special envoy Elliott Abrams told reporters Friday. “I think and many other countries, are very concerned about Interim President Guaido’s ability to go back home, which he has a right to do as a Venezuelan citizen, and to go back home safely. Because a number of regime officials have actually threatened him with arrest. We certainly hope that he is able to go home safely. We know that there are dozens and dozens of other governments who share that concern.”
Mogherini’s Saturday statement echoed that refrain while reiterating the need for a peaceful resolution to the standoff between Guaido and Maduro.
“The European Union underlines its conviction that the solution to the multidimensional crisis affecting Venezuela can only be a political, democratic, and peaceful one,” she said. “The European Union will keep closely monitoring events in cooperation with the International Contact Group members and its regional and international partners.”
