Tirado lived in Venezuela in 2011 and since returning to her native Spain, she has been back to Venezuela four times and has had strong ties to the country for the last 15 years.
During her last trip in February of this year, Tirado admitted that she felt how the economic blockade and crisis had hit the people of Venezuela, so the atmosphere was different from what she was used to.
"In addition, there was the threat of a military invasion and aggression by the self-proclaimed President Guaido and his government, which I, of course, didn't come about on any of the streets of Caracas, and that constantly created tension," Tirado said.
According to the political scientist, she expected that upon arrival she would find barricades at every corner, as in 2017. That is how the situation was described by the Spanish media. However, it is completely at odds with reality. The United States wasn't able to play out the desired scenario.
"In another country it would be unthinkable for someone to declare himself president, call for military intervention, undermine constitutional order, call the legitimate president an usurper, go on an international tour of third countries whose presidents support the siege of the Venezuelan border, which occurred on February 23 in Cucuta, and return," the expert noted.
Tirado stressed that we must not respond to White House National Security Adviser John Bolton's provocations, he said that attempts to prevent the return of Guaido to Venezuela would be met with "a strong and significant response" from the United States.
"Bolton is sending this message to justify possible US actions. In Guaido's place, I would be more worried about my supposed allies, and not about the Venezuelan government, because perhaps these allies are more interested in sacrificing their pawn Guaido, to move on to the next scenario, since this one has already failed."
Tirado is certain that everything that happens with Venezuela "is part of a well-planned fourth-generation war".
"I don't know what's right out of this for Spain because sometimes I get the impression that they don't understand anything and sometimes they understand too much," she said, citing what happened a few weeks ago as an example when Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell criticized Guaido's actions.
When asked whether he recognized the representative of Guaido in Spain, Josep Borrell said: "To whom did he declare [that he is president]? What, did he just go out on a square and declare it, or how did it happen?"
Tirado believes that this humorous remark is not very typical for the Spanish Foreign Minister, while commenting on the actions of another government. In her opinion, it is obvious that Borrell is amused by this situation, and neither he nor the Spanish government believes in Guaido as the president. But since the US gave instructions to recognise him, they did.
According to the political scientist, recognition of Guaido as president by Spain is not a very sensible step, "because if the US gets to the Venezuelan oil, then the Spanish oil company Repsol, which is in the Orinoco oil belt, may suffer." It is highly likely that Spain will not like the new division of resources by the United States.
Speaking of humanitarian aid, Arantxa Tirado quotes geopolitical expert and a Spanish army colonel serving in a reserve capacity, Pedro Baños, who said that "in reality, humanitarian aid is of no interest to Guaido, and it's all a play for the international media."
"The government of Guaido exists only in social networks and in the media, and even less and less, because even on Spanish television he's not called an interim president, but as the chairman of the National Assembly and the self-proclaimed interim president. In other words, they do not recognize his self-proclaimed post," Tirado emphasized.
She believes that there is more proof that all this is a farce, which is the fact that part of this humanitarian aid was already in Caracas, but delivery was planned only after a coup d'état.
"If they [Guaido and the countries that support him] really believe that the people of Venezuela are dying of hunger and in need of humanitarian aid, then you need to see what products it's made up of. I watched USAID footage and saw toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc. All of it is not food, and all of this is already sold in Caracas, as proved by the American journalist Max Blumenthal in a video that he shot."
According to Tirado, this is about a psychological military operation with the aim to show the world that the Maduro government does not want humanitarian aid to enter the country and that it sets fire to trucks [with aid], "which, as we know, were set on fire by the opposition, not the Maduro government".
"The scenario of the humanitarian crisis was artificially invented and not based on the problems that Venezuela is facing, something I have never denied. There are some economic problems, there is the problem of hyperinflation, but this does not automatically develop into a humanitarian crisis. Because if we are talking about a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, then why is it not in Argentina?" — the political scientist wonders.
"Last November, I saw people in Argentina, whole families sleeping on the streets, and no one talks about the need to interfere in Argentina's affairs. And I'm not even talking about the Central America countries. Migrants are fleeing Central America, people literally risk their lives passing through Mexico, where drug mafia, kidnapping, sexual slavery, and the rape of migrants is flourishing, and no one says anything! " — Tirado exclaimed, expressing her outrage.
READ MORE: IMF Undecided on Guaido's Recognition, Says Situation in Venezuela Very Fluid
Meanwhile, the president of Honduras allows loads of so-called humanitarian aid to be sent to Venezuela, although he himself is in charge of one of the poorest countries in Latin America, the Spanish expert reminded, who has no doubt that Venezuela is facing a difficult economic situation but is no worse than in the neighbouring states to which no humanitarian aid is being sent.
The views expressed in this article are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
