Only Washington still recognize Juan Guaidó as president of Venezuela

Venezuela's political opposition party has dissolved the "interim government" led by Juan Guaidó.

Dozens of former Guaido supporters voted in favor of ousting the 39-year-old engineer and installing a committee to supervise the country's upcoming presidential primaries in place of his US-backed "interim government."
...Of the four main opposition parties, only Guaido's own party did not vote to remove him, clearly elucidating the changing balance of power within the opposition.

With his dismissal ends the Guaido-led opposition's efforts to drive out socialist President Nicolas Maduro and force fresh elections.

There is no political structure for Juan Guaidó to be president, legal and legitimate, or otherwise. What's more, he has no significant support anywhere in Venezuela.

But even as Guaido organized protests in Venezuela, the opposition he led, however, was unable to win the support of the country's military or judiciary, and in spite of Venezuela's failing economy, Maduro's government reinforced its control over the South American country.

Moreover, since the "interim government" lacked control over local institutions and could not deliver basic services, Venezuelans came to regard it as a "fake" government.

According to a November survey by Venezuela's Andres Bello University, just 6% of Venezuelans said they would support Guaido if he ran in the country's presidential primaries next year.

So it is pointless for Washington to support Guaido at this time. Yet, the Washington political regime cannot be deterred by failure. After all, repeated military failures (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.) have zero cost and accountability. Repeatedly electoral failures (Dems in 2010 and 2016) have zero cost and accountability. Repeated economic failures (Dot-Com, 2008, Wall Street corruption, etc.) have zero cost and accountability.
So why bother changing a foreign policy just because it isn't working (example Cuba)?

Jan 4 (Reuters) - The United States continues to recognize the 2015 National Assembly in Venezuela and will keep coordinating with interim President Juan Guaido, the White House said on Wednesday.

There are certain things in so-called "divided" Washington that are bi-partisan, and they are almost always terrible for the American people. One of those things is our foreign policy towards Latin America.

"Our approach to Nicolas Maduro is not changing. He is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

"We continue to recognize what is the only remaining democratically elected institution in Venezuela today, and that's the 2015 National Assembly," Price said.

Price said that existing sanctions "remain in place" and that the United States was in touch with the National Assembly on whether a new individual, group or committee would oversee government assets.

So Guaidó has almost no support among the EU, the people of Venezuela, or even the politicians of Venezuela.
At stake is billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets that the U.S. seized and gave it to Juan Guaidó and his associates, while the people of Venezuela went hungry. This is despite repeated corruption scandals, bankrupt companies, shady business dealings, and failed coup attempts.

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Comments

their little puppet ploy did not work out
Venezuela will run their own country
their own way without the help of uncle sam
yankee go home
didn't he flee to Florida? or is that another
puppet?

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9 users have voted.

@QMS

didn't he flee to Florida?

Bolsonaro fled to Florida just the other day. That might be who you are thinking of. But it wouldn't surprise me of Guaido went there too.

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9 users have voted.

@gjohnsit
Zelensky owns luxury FL housing.

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5 users have voted.

than backing/supporting Navalny to take over Russia. Methinks the DC blob is ignorant of how the US once installed losers as leaders in foreign countries. Propaganda alone only works in US centric western countries such as the UK.

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8 users have voted.

@Marie

one of the many problems of US foreign policy is they do not
recognize the importance of maintaining a diplomatic back
channel to avert situational failure if things fall apart
pie on the face can be avoided by thinking ahead and
working with adversaries to find escape routes

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7 users have voted.

@QMS
in decades. Traditional diplomatic skills don't even seem to exist among State Dept employees. Not actually necessary when the USG negotiations consist of "do as we say" or else, sooner or later. War, Inc. is a hungry beast and peace, respect, etc. are anathema to it.

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9 users have voted.

@Marie
With the lone exception of when Obama agreed to the Iran Nuclear deal, the last time diplomacy was taken seriously in Washington was when Clinton tried to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
For Republicans, I think it was Reagan doing a nuclear arms agreement with the USSR.

Diplomacy and compromise is seen as a weakness by the entire right-wing, from the politicians to the voters. Dems just give it lip service these days.
Sanctions is the substitute for "diplomacy". That's why China is kicking our asses in global influence these days. China uses both the carrot and the stick. We only use the stick and the bigger stick.

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5 users have voted.

@Marie

sad, but true
diplomacy at the point of a gun
belligerent threats
not negotiation

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4 users have voted.