“Those who hide are them. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido met the public according to videos released by relatives on Saturday during his first public appearance after the government's claims that he had taken refuge in the embassy of France. Paris had denied Friday the Venezuelan foreign minister Jorge Arreaza's assertions the day before.
Juan Guaido appears in these images made public by his team and by allied parliamentarians, wearing gloves and a protective mask because of the coronavirus pandemic. He walks near a line of vehicles in front of a gas station, while greeting and chatting with drivers.
“Those who hide are them (…) $ 15 million reward for them. I'm showing my face, ”says Juan Guaido on one of these videos, where it is not specified where or when they were filmed. The American justice promised at the end of March 15 million dollars of reward for the capture of the socialist president Nicolas Maduro, accused of "narcoterrorism".
Accused of promoting an "invasion attempt" in early May
The Venezuelan president suggested Monday that Juan Guaido may have "hidden in an embassy". Three days later, his Minister of Foreign Affairs declared that the opponent was in "the French Embassy" and that another opponent, Leopoldo Lopez, had found refuge at the residence of the Spanish ambassador. He demanded their arrest.
"Juan Guaido is not at the residence (of the ambassador) of France in Caracas," replied the spokeswoman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Agnès von der Mühll on Friday. "He is not in any of our precincts" in Caracas, she added, interviewed by AFP, stressing that France had "confirmed it several times to the Venezuelan authorities".
The President of the Parliament has been prosecuted in his country in several cases since he proclaimed himself acting president of Venezuela in January 2019. But to date, no arrest orders have been made public. Attorney General Tarek William Saab accuses him of having fomented an "invasion attempt" in early May with the complicity of the United States, and of encouraging actions to destabilize the regime. Like France and Spain, around fifty countries recognize Juan Guaido as interim president, rather than Nicolas Maduro, elected head of state according to them by means of serious irregularities.
- Nicolas Maduro
- Venezuela
- Juan Guaidó
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