Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is a contender for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize

Record ID: 1434342

  • Title: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is a contender for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize
  • Date: 30th September 2019
  • Summary: The president of Venezuela's National Assembly, Juan Guaido, leads a rally in Caracas on January 16 as he pushes for President Nicolas Maduro to be removed from power. CARACAS, VENEZUELA (FILE - JANUARY 16, 2019) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, JUAN GUAIDO, ARRIVING AT RALLY VARIOUS OF GUAIDO GREETING SUPPORTERS AS HE ARRIVES AT RALLY VARIOUS OF GUAIDO LEADING CROWD AS THEY TAKE AN OATH TOGETHER Guaido leads a rally in Caracas on January 19 as the country moves forward with a legislative challenge to President Nicolas Maduro. CARACAS, VENEZUELA (JANUARY 19, 2019) (REUTERS) GUAIDO GREETING SUPPORTERS AS HE ARRIVES FOR RALLY VARIOUS OF GUAIDO WAVING AT CROWD FROM STAGE CROWD LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, JUAN GUAIDO, SAYING: "We are united. We are in the streets. We have the international community. Who does the international community recognize? The only legitimate institution (referring to the National Assembly) which will take on the responsibilities at all times, you can count on that." CROWD CHEERING GUAIDO LOOKING BACK AND POSING FOR MEDIA Venezuela's Supreme Court disavows Juan Guaido as leader of the country's opposition-run congress. CARACAS, VENEZUELA (JANUARY 21, 2019) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VENEZUELAN SUPREME COURT JUDGES (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SUPREME COURT JUDGE, JUAN JOSE MENDOZA, SAYING: "The National Assembly does not have a valid board of directors, incurring the null directive elected on January 5, 2019, as well as those unconstitutionally designated in 2017 and 2018, in usurpation of authority, for which all acts are null and void." CARACAS, VENEZUELA (JANUARY 21, 2019) (REUTERS) VENEZUELA'S OPPOSITION GATHERED TO REACT TO CALLS FOR PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO TO BE REMOVED (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, JUAN GUAIDO, SAYING: "There is nothing new with what the express judges said. There is absolutely nothing new to say about it. This National Assembly stays firm with the decisions made and to move forward, working for the people of Venezuela and with a very clear focus, on January 23." Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans pour into the streets of Caracas on January 23, 2019 to demand an end to the government of President Nicolas Maduro, while the United States considered recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's rightful leader. CARACAS, VENEZUELA (JANUARY 23, 2019) (REUTERS) VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS GATHERING IN THE CHACAO MUNICIPALITY OF CARACAS FOR MASS DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO MASSIVE CROWD MAKING ITS WAY THROUGH THE STREETS VARIOUS OF HUGE CROWD GATHERED VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS STANDING, SOME WITH FLAGS AND BANNERS AND SHOUTING SLOGANS VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS WALKING WITH FLAGS AND BANNERS FOR DEMONSTRATION CATHOLIC NUNS AT RALLY HOLDING VENEZUELAN FLAG AND CHANTING (Spanish): "FREEDOM, FREEDOM" Juan Guaido declares himself interim president at rally. CARACAS, VENEZUELA (JANUARY 23, 2019) (REUTERS) VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER, JUAN GUAIDO, ON STAGE AT RALLY AT WHICH HE DECLARES HIMSELF INTERIM PRESIDENT PEOPLE CHEERING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER, JUAN GUAIDO, SAYING: "I swear [CROWD CHEERS] to formally assume all the powers of the national executive as the interim president of Venezuela [CROWD CHEERING] to secure an end of the usurpation and a treasonous government and to have free elections. If it is it to be, let God and country reward us and if not (let God and country) demand it." CROWD CHEERING Venezuela's police on January 23 fire tear gas at opposition protesters in Caracas. CARACAS, VENEZUELA (JANUARY 23, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LARGE CROWD OF ANTI-MADURO PROTESTERS FLEEING FROM TEAR GAS BEING FIRED BY VENEZUELAN POLICE VARIOUS OF POLICE FIRING TEAR GAS AT PROTESTERS PROTESTERS GOING INTO POLICE CHECK POINT TOWER AND SETTING IT ON FIRE PROTESTERS AROUND TOWER PROTESTER NEAR BURNING VAN PROTESTERS SETTING UP BURNING BARRICADE
  • Embargoed: 14th October 2019 09:44
  • Keywords: Turkish President Erdogan Juan Guaido Marquez Voluntad Popular Russia Trump Tayyip Erdogan Turkey Sergei Lavrov Donald Trump Venezuelan PresidentPopular Will party Nicolas Maduro Hugo Chavez Guaido
  • Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA008AYGA1XJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS NOTE: GUAIDO FILE FOOTAGE CONTINUES IN EDIT 8357-VENEZUELA-POLITICS/GUAIDO PROFILE-PART 2
    QUALITY AS INCOMING
    Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido is a contender for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
    In a matter of months, Guaido has gone from a virtual unknown in Venezuelan politics to the country's most-watched figure, assuming the presidency of the opposition-controlled congress and briefly being detained by the secret police.
    On January 23, the 35-year-old from the South American country's hardscrabble Caribbean coast thrust himself onto the international stage with the boldest challenge to socialist President Nicolas Maduro's rule in years: he declared himself interim president, a move swiftly recognised by the United States, Canada and many Latin American countries.
    His rapid ascent has raised hopes that he could fill a leadership vacuum in Venezuela's notoriously divided opposition, which has failed in several attempts to oust Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez. Many of its most prominent figures have been jailed, exiled or barred from seeking public office.
    The salsa-loving baseball fan has animated the opposition's upper-class base and won over many working-class Venezuelans fed up with the country's hyperinflationary economic collapse, who have taken to the streets demanding Maduro step down.
    Yet Guaido still needs the backing of the armed forces to achieve his goal of forcing new elections.
    He has proposed an amnesty for members of the military, but said members of the Maduro government who committed human rights violations should be punished.
    Guaido took the helm of the National Assembly on January 5 with a call for the armed forces to recognise Maduro as a "usurper" after his May 2018 re-election vote, widely viewed as fraudulent.
    The eldest of six children from a working-class family in the coastal state of Vargas, Guaido survived a devastating 1999 mudslide that posed one of the earliest tests to Chavez's 14-year rule.
    He went on to study engineering, but became involved in politics while in college and studied political management at George Washington University in the United States. He is married with a 1-year-old daughter.
    For some years, the focus of the opposition - both of Guaido and his mentor, Leopoldo Lopez, the well-known head of the Popular Will party, currently under house arrest - has been ousting Maduro from power.
    Representing Vargas for Popular Will, Guaido assumed the parliament's leadership as part of a power-sharing agreement between Venezuela's main opposition parties. He has said little about what policies he would pursue as president, but Popular Will describe themselves as centre-left social democrats.
    Guaido was dragged out of his car on the highway and detained by intelligence agents on January 14, but was swiftly released.
    Government officials said the officers responsible would be punished.
    Guaido has said he is not afraid of being arrested, boosting his popularity among Venezuelans tired with Maduro.
    The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in Oslo on Friday, October 11, at 1100 a.m. (0900 GMT) and the prize, worth 9 million Swedish crowns ($ 1.12 million), will be handed over on December 10, 2019.
    (Production: Paul Warren, Vanessa Romeo)
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