Who Is Venezuela's Juan Guaidó? “We already discussed at the last meeting of foreign ministers that the time can come when further sanctions from the European Union will come against the Maduro regime.”“Who elects the president of Venezuela? He is a representative for the state of Vargas.. With short black hair peppered with grey, he had never one for these big public speeches, but Guaidó pushed himself to become the leader of a divided and unstructured opposition, whose biggest leaders were imprisoned, exiled or out of action.Guaido’s party, Voluntad Popular (Popular Will or Will of the People) is a centrist social-democratic party. It was formed to “promote social action and social leadership,” and it was officially recognized as a party in 2011.Foreign officials, particularly in the United States, who want to see a transitional government in Venezuela, say they saw in Mr. Guaidó a fresh-faced leader from humble origins who contrasted with previous opposition leaders, whom Mr. Maduro disparaged as oligarchs and right-wing extremists.“Seeing your daily life wiped out from one day to the next forced us to detach ourselves from material things, but brought us closer,” Juan Guaidó told the newspaper El Nacional.The party was co-founded and is currently led by Leopoldo Lopez, a well-known political prisoner in Venezuela and Guaido’s mentor.Vice President Mike Pence spoke directly to the Venezuelan people in a video released on YouTube and Twitter on Tuesday, calling Mr. Maduro a “dictator with no legitimate claim to power.” Mr. Pence said he recognized the National Assembly, led by Mr. Guaidó, as “the last vestige of democracy in your country,” and stated that, “we are with you, we stand with you, and we will stay with you until democracy is restored and you reclaim your birthright of libertad.”“People have been frustrated with the opposition, and tired of the same old faces of the politicians of the old establishment that have failed,” said Margarita López Maya, a retired political scientist in Caracas who taught at the Central University of Venezuela.In his short career, Guaido has been applauded for building unity among fellow legislators.
Juan Guaidó (born July 28, 1983) is a Venezuelan Politician and Engineer from La Guaira, Venezuela. It holds just 14 of the national assembly’s 167 seats, but is a member of the Democratic Unity Roundtable coalition, which holds a super majority in the assembly.Mr.
“The opposition has finally put forward a fresh face that has courage, new ideas and leadership skills that has started to revive them.”Juan Gerardo Guaido Marquez, an industrial engineer by training, began organizing demonstrations against Hugo Chavez more than a decade ago after the late leader silenced critics by refusing to renew the broadcast license of Venezuela’s most popular television channel.
As a legislator, he visited a disputed zone between Venezuela and Guyana that dates back to 1966.