Venezuelan opposition to choose new leaders following end of Guaidó’s interim presidency

The Venezuelan opposition is expected to choose a new president of the National Assembly on Thursday that will replace Juan Guaidó as the leader of the anti-Chavista movement, starting a new chapter in the fight against the Caracas socialist regime following the dissolution of the so-called interim government.

Representatives of the main Venezuelan opposition parties held behind-the-scene talks on Wednesday to pre-select new directors of the 2015 National Assembly, which is recognized by the United States as the only democratic institution left in Venezuela

It is unclear if Guaidó’s party, Voluntad Popular, was actively participating in the talks, but representatives of the other opposition parties told el Nuevo Herald that they expected it to end up supporting the authorities agreed upon by the other parties: Primero Justicia (PJ), Acción Democrática (AD) and Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT).

“There is still no name” as to who will be Guaidó’s successor in the presidency of the National Assembly, said opposition lawmaker Julio Borges, one of the top representatives of Primero Justicia. “The conversations that are taking place are to explore that and to find who are the best people to move forward.”

The election will be held a few days after a majority bloc of the opposition, made up by deputies from the PJ, AD and UNT parties, decided to put an end to the interim government led by Guaidó, who until then was considered by the United States and dozens of other countries as the legitimate president of Venezuela, even though he had no control over Venezuelan territory nor over any of the country’s institutions.

On Tuesday, the Biden administration ended up pronouncing the last rites of the interim government by expressing support for the decision adopted on Friday by two-thirds of the same deputies who in 2019 supported Guaidó after declaring that Nicolás Maduro had committed massive fraud in the presidential election held the year before.

“The United States continues to recognize the National Assembly democratically elected in 2015 as the last remaining democratic institution in Venezuela,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement Tuesday night. “The United States supports the Venezuelan people in their desire for a peaceful restoration of democracy through free and fair elections and will continue to support Venezuela’s democratic opposition.”

Price added in conversations with journalists that the U.S. government continues to consider the Maduro government illegitimate, urging the regime to move forward in the talks held in Mexico with the opposition to lay the foundations for free and fair elections.