“Privileged interlocutor.” That was the phrase the European Union chose on 25 January 2021 for Juan Guaidó, a deliberate step down from the title he had carried for two years. Reuters reported that the bloc’s 27 member states no longer regarded him as Venezuela’s interim president.
The reasoning was legal, and it was narrow. Guaidó held the job of interim president because he headed the National Assembly when Nicolás Maduro’s 2018 re-election was disputed. In December, Venezuela held new legislative elections, and he lost his post at the head of parliament. The EU had not recognized that vote, but on 6 January its governments said they could no longer legally recognize him as interim president. The Monday statement stuck to that line.
What the title was worth
The catch is that the status carried real assets. According to Reuters, the interim presidency gave Guaidó access to funds that Western governments had confiscated from Maduro, access to top officials, and backing for his pro-democracy movement at home and abroad. Losing recognition in Europe puts all of that in question.
The EU did not cut him loose entirely. Its joint statement placed him in the democratic opposition and called for the freedom and safety of opposition representatives elected to the National Assembly in 2015, “especially Juan Guaidó.” It described them as “important actors and privileged interlocutors” and urged the opposition to unite against Maduro’s disputed rule. The assembly elected in 2015 was opposition-held. The new one sits in the hands of Maduro’s allies, after the opposition urged Venezuelans to boycott the vote.
The European Parliament had gone the other way a week earlier, passing a resolution asking EU governments to keep Guaidó as head of state. Guaidó thanked it, arguing that the 2020 parliamentary elections were fraudulent.
Washington holds its position
The United States and Britain still saw Guaidó as Venezuela’s rightful leader. Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, told senators the week before that the administration would keep recognizing him. Blinken said Biden would “more effectively target” sanctions meant to push Maduro out, and would look at more humanitarian help. “We need an effective policy that can restore Venezuela to democracy, starting with free and fair elections,” he said.
Reuters noted that Guaidó’s push to remove Maduro had stalled, and that Maduro remained in control. Maduro calls his rival a U.S. puppet seeking a coup. His allies, the agency said, wanted to negotiate with the Biden administration after years of tension and escalating sanctions.
