Guaidó ousted as interim president in vote by opposition in Venezuelan National Assembly

The Venezuelan opposition approved Friday the end of the so-called interim government of opposition leader Juan Guaidó, embarking on a new path that critics say will lead to further internal divisions and help the Nicolás Maduro regime regain international recognition.

The measure was approved by more than two thirds of the 112 deputies who voted in January 2019 in favor of appointing Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president, after declaring that Maduro committed massive electoral fraud in the 2018 elections and was occupying the presidential office illegally.

Guaidó, who is also president of the opposition National Assembly, is recognized by the United States and dozens of countries as the legitimate president of Venezuela, even though his “interim government” has no control over Venezuelan territory or any of the state’s institutions.

In a session of the National Assembly held by a videoconference, those who spoke in favor of the dissolution of the so-called interim presidency said that the political platform has already exhausted its usefulness and that its dissolution is necessary to be able to create a new road map to reestablish democracy in Venezuela.

Juan Miguel Matheus, who spoke on behalf of the opposition parties promoting the motion to dismantle the interim government, said the proposal seeks to rebuild the unity of the opposition by establishing a solid foundation and tossing aside a fictional presidency that existed only on paper.

“Everything we are doing right now... has to do with the ultimate goal of defeating the dictatorship and rebuilding unity, but a true unity,” Matheus said. “Venezuela needs a new machinery to defeat the Maduro dictatorship and to resume the path of progress.”

However, almost all the deputies who participated in the debate prior to the vote spoke out against the proposal, describing it as a mistake that would push the opposition towards an unconstitutional path.

Deputy Freddy Guevera, who belongs to Guaido’s party, Voluntad Popular, said in his speech that the members of the majority bloc — made up by parties Acción Democrática, Primero Justicia and Un Nuevo Tiempo — who voted Friday against Guaidó had resisted for several months calls to participate in meetings to seek a consensus that would solve all disagreements without dissolving the interim presidency.

The preservation of the interim government, Guevara argued, is necessary because the international community’s decision not to recognize Maduro’s presidency depends on it and now the regime will have a much easier time recovering the seats it had lost in multilateral organizations such as the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Maduro will also have an easier time recovering control of Venezuela’s foreign assets, Guevara said. “We are about to make a historic mistake,” he added.

Guaidó had urged Venezuelans on Tuesday to express their rejection of the proposal, noting that the interim government was essential to protect the assets of the South American country abroad, which include about $1 billion in gold bars deposited in the vaults of the Bank of England and the U.S. refinery Citgo.

The Miami Herald had reported in October that three of the four main Venezuelan opposition political parties had made the decision to dismantle the interim government, even though Guaidó was still recognized as the legitimate president of Venezuela by the U.S. and several other governments.

The White House confirmed then that it continued to back Guidó, but said the U.S. government would not interfere in the internal struggle for the leadership of Venezuela’s troubled opposition and that it would respect any decision finally made.

Some international observers said the Venezuelan opposition has made a significant mistake.

“It’s nonsense,” said Antonio de La Cruz, senior associate of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “It will end up in the coronation of Maduro because by eliminating the interim presidency what they are going to do is leave behind a de facto government.”