As Guaido Re-Enters Venezuela Monday, Bolton Threatens US Action If He’s Detained
US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido plans to re-enter Venezuela on Monday after previously meeting with Vice President Mike Pence and other regional leaders in Colombia last week, and after visiting with the president of Ecuador on Sunday. The Maduro government, including Venezuela’s Supreme Court, has said he could face up to 30 years in prison for violating a prior travel ban placed on him — something which the US has balked at, saying it would take action if Guaido were prosecuted or harmed.
In a speech posted to social media on Sunday, Guaido referenced other notable opposition leaders currently imprisoned or under house arrest: “Tomorrow we will return to our country, there is a risk on returning, many politicians like Leopoldo Lopez and union leaders are imprisoned but if the governement seizes me, there are clear steps to take, mobilization is the first one”, he said according to Bloomberg. And attempting to stoke the momentum of anti-Maduro protests which seem to have faded in the country, he added, “we will take the streets” and that “I will announce next political steps tomorrow. This process in unstoppable. Political transition has already started.”
Significantly, Guaido invoked the some 700 total armed forces widely reported to have defected over the past weeks, most believed to have taken refuge in Colombia, to suggest successful “mobilization” and significant momentum. “I announce my return to the country and call on marches across the country for Monday and Tuesday,” he said on Twitter late Saturday. He said that if arrested by Maduro, it “would be a coup d’etat“.
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