Deputy Julio Chávez: US Will Look for Another Guaidó to Continue Confiscating Venezuela’s Assets
Orinoco Tribune, January 20, 2023 — In an interview with Sputnik published on Thursday, January 19, Venezuelan National Assembly (AN) Deputy Julio Chávez spoke about the recent decision of the Venezuelan opposition to put an end to the “interim government” which had been led by former deputy Juan Guaidó since 2019. The Venezuelan opposition, disappointed by Guaidó’s robberies, had no choice but to remove him from his “post” along with his “interim government,” but the US will create another coup-plotter to replace him, Chávez explained.
The so-called interim government, created by US authorities, was an illegitimate structure formed with the purpose of overthrowing the constitutional government of President Nicolás Maduro, whose legitimacy originated from the people of Venezuela who elected him in the 2018 presidential elections.
“Such is the level of disappointment of the opposition that they had no other option but to give up that trial-run balloon that did not work,” commented Chávez. “They used the interim government as a tool to surrender sovereignty, to dismantle all the diplomatic missions of Venezuela around the world, and to propitiate and facilitate all those robberies, blockades, economic crises, and financial persecution.”
According to Chávez, member of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), the United States will now try to create a new opposition leadership after the defeat of Guaidó, whom it supported for more than three years.
“National Assembly of 2015”
At the end of December 2022, the members of the “National Assembly of 2015” voted to put an end to Guaidó’s “interim presidency” by January 5, 2023. The mandate of the AN elected in 2015 had actually ended on January 4, 2021, and the new AN, elected in November 2020, took charge on January 5, 2021, rendering the “National Assembly of 2015” itself obsolete. However, the “National Assembly of 2015” has gone on to illegally extend its mandate every year with the support of the US and its allies.
According to estimates of the Venezuelan government, the value of Venezuelan assets and resources blocked, withheld, or confiscated abroad exceeds $30 billion, which constitutes the “legacy” of Guaidó’s “interim government.”
US will look for another Guaidó
“The US will not give in, nor will it relax; on the contrary, it will toughen the unilateral measures and will try to manufacture a new opposition leadership because the ones it had turned out to be corrupt criminals and thieves,” Deputy Chávez said in the interview with Sputnik.
He emphasized that there is enough evidence regarding the illegal actions of Guaidó and his “gang of criminals” to bring them to justice, as the Venezuelan people are demanding.
Guaidó proclaimed himself “president in charge” of Venezuela in February 2019 with the support of then US President Donald Trump, who led an offensive to overthrow President Maduro using a litany of weapons, including a total economic blockade, coup attempts, invasion attempts, and even assassination attempts.
Now, the end of the “interim government” and the expulsion of Guaidó from the opposition leadership constitute an admission of defeat by the Venezuelan extreme right and a victory for Chavismo and Maduro.