Venezuela police block Guaido’s access to parliament for vote

CARACAS — Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido hit out at the police on Sunday for preventing him from attending a national assembly session where he hoped to be voted in for a second term as parliament speaker.

Guaido had been widely expected to be confirmed as national assembly president, a post he has held for the past year.

But when he arrived on Sunday morning he was prevented from entering by police carrying out a security operation.

"This is unprecedented!" Guaido told a member of the security forces with whom he had a heated exchange.

"What operation? Who ordered it? It's the national assembly's administration that decides" on access, protested Guaido, who was accompanied by other lawmakers.

The national assembly is the only branch of government in opposition hands. But it has been effectively sidelined since 2017, when the supreme court, made up of Maduro loyalists, declared it in contempt. The court has since annulled its every decision.

For the past year, Guaido has led opposition to Venezuela's socialist president Nicolas Maduro.

Acting president

Last January, Guaido declared himself acting president — a move quickly supported by more than 50 countries — after parliament officially branded Maduro a "usurper". Maduro's 2018 reelection was widely denounced as fraudulent.

Despite intense pressure from the opposition and the United States, which has imposed sanctions on regime figures, Maduro has retained power thanks largely to support from the armed forces.

Sunday's parliament session had been due to begin at 11:00am (15:00 GMT) but journalists as well as lawmakers were prevented from accessing the site.

Kidnapping' deputies 

AFP journalists saw police and army blockades in the streets surrounding the assembly building in the capital Caracas.

"The regime is kidnapping and persecuting deputies, militarising the Federal Legislative Palace, preventing access and blocking entry to the free press," Guaido said on Twitter.

"This is the reality in Venezuela: The desire for change in the face of a dictatorship that continues to persecute."

The national press workers union launched a "worldwide alert in the face of the Nicolas Maduro regime initiative to block the press" from reaching parliament.

Falling popularity 

Guido needs a simple majority of 84 in the 167-seat assembly, which should be a foregone conclusion because opposition lawmakers won 112 seats in legislative elections in 2015.

Guaido, 36, had been confident of earning enough votes to be re-elected, despite a drop in public support over the past year.

His wider popularity has nosedived from a high of 63 per cent to just 39 per cent in December, according to the pollster Datanalisis.

There have been damaging accusations of corruption among his inner circle.

But he needs a simple majority of 84 in the 167-seat assembly, and opposition lawmakers won 112 seats in legislative elections in 2015.

The events of the past year have caused some fracturing in the opposition. Around 30 lawmakers have been forced into exile or had to seek refuge in foreign diplomatic missions.

Still, Datanalisis director Luis Vicente Leon said Guaido should have the backing to be reelected.

'Could have been the future' 

Ahead of Sunday's vote, however, opposition deputy Jose Brito, an opponent of Guaido's, told journalists that another lawmaker, Luis Parra, would stand against the current speaker.

"You could have been the future — now you are and will be the past," Brito told journalists, addressing Guaido.

Maduro has said he expects to "regain the National Assembly" in elections later this year.

In many ways, Maduro — who has the support of China, Russia and Cuba — has managed to stifle Guaido's momentum.

Despite a severe economic crisis that has led to shortages of food and medicines, and an inflation rate the IMF said would hit a stunning 200,000 per cent for 2019, Maduro remains steadfast.

If Guaido and his allies hope to regain their momentum, they will "need to formulate a clear and unified strategy", said David Smilde, professor of Latin American studies at Tulane University in the United States.