‘Guaido Is the Bait’: US Tries to Provoke Caracas as Support for Coup Wanes
Self-declared Interim President Juan Guaido returned to Venezuela Monday unmolested by the government he seeks to supplant. President Nicolas Maduro won’t arrest Guaido because the real threat comes from foreign intervention by the US, but even that is quickly losing currency among opponents of the Bolivarian revolution, a journalist told Sputnik.
On Monday, Guaido concluded a tour of several right-wing Latin American governments, where he tried to gather support for his attempted coup d'etat against Maduro, who was elected to a second term by a large margin last May in elections in which Guaido did not run.
Guaido's visits to Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Ecuador in the last week aimed to gather international support for the forcing of humanitarian aid sent by the United States into the country — aid that was blocked last month due to fears of it being a Trojan horse for arming the opposition.
Following Washington's lead, Guaido has forwarded the narrative of an urgent need in Venezuela for food and medicine, threatening that hundreds of thousands of lives are imperiled without it. However, numerous international organizations, including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, declined to participate in the aid delivery, saying it had been politicized. Further, several times the aid sent by the US has been openly accepted by Venezuela from China and Russia, countries that support Maduro's government against the US-backed coup.
Guaido's return flouts a travel ban imposed by Caracas on the parliamentarian after his January 23 declaration. US National Security Adviser John Bolton, an energetic supporter of the coup, tweeted Monday that if Maduro had Guaido arrested upon his return, "any threats or acts against his safe return will be met with a strong and significant response from the United States and the international community," Sputnik reported.
Radio Sputnik's Loud and Clear spoke about the situation with journalist and filmmaker Dan Cohen, whose most recent film is "Killing Gaza." Cohen spoke to Sputnik from Colombia.
Noting that Guaido tweeted upon returning to the country that "we enter Venezuela as free citizens," Cohen told hosts Brian Becker and John Kiriakou that "on the other hand, he was denouncing Maduro as a dictator — which, I mean, if he was really a dictator, I think he'd see a harsh reaction to what Guaido is doing, which is essentially conspiring with a foreign power to overthrow the government."
https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201903051072955436-Guaido-Bait-US-Provoke-Caracas-Coup-Wanes/