Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido will meet on Monday in Bogota with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo at a regional counterterrorism conference, according to two people close to Guaido.
Guaido confirmed on Sunday he had arrived in Colombia and would speak with Colombian president Ivan Duque, though he did not mention Pompeo. Spokespeople for the US state department and Guaido declined to comment on a meeting with Pompeo.
Guaido has not left Venezuela since February, when he defied a court-imposed travel ban and travelled to neighbouring Colombia to organise a US-backed effort to transport aid cargos back across the border, which was blocked by troops loyal to President Nicolas Maduro.
In a message on Twitter, Guaido said he was grateful for Duque’s support and said the trip would “generate the conditions that will lead us to freedom”.
“I can assure you that my return to our country will be full of good news,” he added.
Duque, on Twitter, welcomed Guaido to Colombia, saying they would have a private meeting at his presidential residence on Sunday and Guaido would attend Monday’s conference. The meeting will address the use of drug-trafficking and illegal gold mining to fund “terrorist activities” in the Americas.
The United States, along with some 50 other nations, has recognised Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate head-of-state since last January when he invoked the constitution as head of congress and declared Maduro an usurper.
Imposing sanctions
But a year on Maduro remains in power, despite a US campaign to cut off his government’s sources of financing by imposing sanctions on Venezuela’s vital oil sector, and Guaido’s attempts to encourage the military to rebel.
Earlier this month, Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party seized control of the National Assembly and swore-in an allied politician who defected from Guaido’s camp. Opposition lawmakers than voted in Guaido for a second term as congress chief in a separate session.
Pompeo at the time congratulated Guaido for his re-election and condemned “the failed efforts of the former Maduro regime to negate the will of the democratically elected National Assembly”.
Maduro accuses Guaido of being a coup-mongering puppet controlled by the White House. In an interview published by the Washington Post on Saturday, Maduro said the Trump administration had underestimated his staying power and he “didn’t care” about sanctions.
– Reuters