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Juan Guaidó, a leader who was recognized as president in charge of Venezuela by the United States, will be a candidate in the opposition primaries to choose a rival to the socialist president Nicolás Maduro in the 2024 elections, his party reported on Tuesday.
“It was decided that Juan Guaidó would be the candidate of Voluntad Popular,” announced Freddy Superlano, political coordinator of that force, founded by the exiled leader Leopoldo López.
“Guaidó, Guaidó, Guaidó!”, the militants present at the press conference chanted in unison.
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“It is a great responsibility to receive the support of @VoluntadPopular, the party we founded during the dictatorship,” Guaidó posted on Twitter. “I will continue touring the country (…) accompanying the needs and aspirations of our people.”
The primaries are scheduled for October 22. Other politicians such as Henrique Capriles, twice presidential candidate against the ruling Chavismo, and María Corina Machado, from the most radical wing of the opposition, have also formalized their participation.
Guaidó, 39, joins the list after having led the symbolic “interim government” for four years (2019-2023) created with the support of the United States and fifty countries, in response to Maduro’s re-election in 2018, which they labeled as fraudulent.
The initiative did not fulfill its objective: to remove the socialist president from power. However, it received control of resources blocked abroad as the Chavista government was targeted by international financial sanctions.
Support for Guaidó’s internship was declining and the opposition itself decided to eliminate the figure of the “presidency in charge” on January 5.
Guaidó, who will be proclaimed in an act of his party -still without a date-, will be able to participate in the primaries despite the fact that he is prohibited from holding public office for 15 years due to various legal cases. Capriles faces a similar measure, which does not weigh in the primary process.
The disqualifications, as well as the conditions for the 2024 elections, are part of the political agenda of the negotiation process between opponents and the government in Mexico, paralyzed since November pending the disbursement of resources frozen by international sanctions against Maduro to attend the humanitarian crisis.
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“We have to exhaust the path of negotiation,” said Superlano, who also stressed that the parties must be “able” to name any candidate in case they fail to lift the disqualifications.
“If we do the things we have to do, we can win the presidential election,” he added.
