Guaido gleefully announced that he had touched down in Caracas, Venezuela, on February 11 following a weeks-long international tour in which he met with several world leaders.
“I bring the commitment of the free world, willing to help us recover Democracy and Freedom,” he said in a Tuesday social media post. “A new moment begins that will not admit setbacks and that needs us all doing what we have to do. The time has arrived.”
EN CASA 🇻🇪 #TodoPorVzla pic.twitter.com/3V1OdvpNEc
— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) February 11, 2020
While his return to the country appeared to go smoothly judging from his personal social media account, the actual situation was much more chaotic - and literally messy - for Guaidó, as evidenced by videos of the scene shared by his detractors online.
Welcome #GuaiDOG . ¡Vende Patria @jguaido !! pic.twitter.com/HyKweuFVlZ
— Angelo Rivas R (@AngeloRivasVen) February 11, 2020
Este es Juan Guaidó, el que es recibido con aplausos en Washington pero con desprecio nada más y nada menos que en #Venezuela. Su show es insostenible, el golpe de Estado falló hace meses. De la Casa Blanca al repudio absoluto en las calles venezolanas:pic.twitter.com/DpIBO84BwZ
— Alina Duarte (@AlinaDuarte_) February 11, 2020
Another video showed Guaido being confronted around the same time as his photo-op for his personal Twitter post shown above.
“Traitor! You’re a traitor to the homeland!”
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) February 11, 2020
Juan Guaidó arrives in Caracas after his latest regime change lobbying tour and is immediately jeered and confronted by an employee of a Venezuelan airline sanctioned by his US paymasters pic.twitter.com/SxaimDzgKl
Even outside the airport, Guaido was met by a large group of protesters who chanted “asesino,” which translates to “murderer” in English.
“Asesino, asesino, asesino” así le gritaban a @jguaido al llegar al aeropuerto de #Maiquetí luego de su gira internacional donde pidió más sanciones contra #Venezuela que ya tuvieron resultado con #Conviasa, además de han registrado algunas acciones denunciadas como terroristas pic.twitter.com/f5P7Mb8MJj
— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) February 11, 2020
Venezuelan media outlet “Misión Verdad” said that demonstrators were calling Guaido a murderer due to the broad economic sanctions leveled against Venezuela by the US in August 2017 and January 2019. According to an April 2019 report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research, US sanctions were responsible for “40,000 deaths from 2017–2018” in Venezuela.
Según estudio realizado por @ceprdc, las medidas coercitivas solicitadas por la oposición e implementadas por el gobierno estadounidense, son responsables de la muerte de al menos 40 mil venezolanos.
— Misión Verdad (@Mision_Verdad) February 11, 2020
Por eso le gritan "asesino" a Juan Guaidó. pic.twitter.com/WYEFNfAoj2
Guaido departed Venezuela on January 19 and began his international tour in Bogota, Colombia, where he met with President Iván Duque and flouted a travel ban placed on him by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government. Since January 2019, Guaido has maintained that Maduro’s government is illegitimate and that he is the rightful “interim president” of the country. While the US and roughly 50 other countries support his claims, three-quarters of the globe does not, and Maduro remains firmly in power a year later.
#19Ene En este momento sostenemos una reunión con el Presidente de #Colombia @IvanDuque , como parte de nuestra agenda internacional. Vamos a consolidar el apoyo del mundo para lograr la Libertad de Venezuela.#AgendaInternacional2020 pic.twitter.com/dTvio00Cf1
— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) January 20, 2020
Guaido then went on to Europe, where he was met by demonstrators who called for the so-called leader to be put on trial “for having attempted to overthrow the democratically elected government” in Caracas.
He also delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, before traveling to North America to visit both Canada and the US.
Canada stands with the people of Venezuela as they pursue free & fair elections and human rights. In our meeting today, I commended Interim President @jguaido for the leadership he’s shown in his efforts to return democracy to Venezuela & offered him our continued support. pic.twitter.com/UPH4Kd2xXG
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 28, 2020
US President Donald Trump, who was then still caught up in an impeachment trial in the US Senate, was able to get bipartisan support when he introduced Guaido as his special guest during his State of the Union address earlier this month.
