- Title: Profile of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido
- Date: 2nd January 2020
- Summary: ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** GUAIDO WITH HANDS UP NEXT TO TINTORI AT END OF NEWS CONFERENCE Then opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido sticks signs over Brazilian construction company Odebrecht's unfinished or stalled multi-million-dollar projects in Venezuela. CARACAS, VENEZUELA (FILE - 2017) (REUTERS) OPPOSITION LAWMAKER, JUAN GUAIDO, AND SUPPORTERS STICKING SIGNS ON INCOMPLETE WORKS CLOSE OF SIGN READING (Spanish): "INCOMPLETE WORK, LINE 5 OF THE CARACAS METRO, 3,710,219,309.900 BOLIVARS LOST" GUAIDO SPEAKING ABOUT WORKS CLOSE OF SIGN READING (Spanish): "#ODEBRECHT ACCOMPLICE OF THE REGIME" Guaido becomes the new president of Venezuela's opposition-controlled National Assembly on January 5, 2019 and says Nicolas Maduro would be "usurping the presidency" if he is sworn in for a new term as planned on January 10. CARACAS, VENEZUELA (FILE - JANUARY 5, 2019) (REUTERS) NEW PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, JUAN GUAIDO, WALKING INTO CONGRESS AHEAD OF VOTE NAMING HIM THE BODY'S LEADER MEMBERS OF VENEZUELA'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY GATHERING GUAIDO GREETING ANOTHER LAWMAKER MEMBERS OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RAISING THEIR HANDS TO VOTE FOR GUAIDO AS THE BODY'S PRESIDENT GUAIDO WAVING TO MEMBERS AFTER ELECTION GUAIDO CHANTING (Spanish): "YES WE CAN" WITH MEMBERS PEOPLE SEATED DURING SESSION GUAIDO WALKING UP TO LECTERN AND SHAKING HANDS WITH OUTGOING PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, OMAR BARBOZA MEMBERS APPLAUDING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VENEZUELA'S NEWLY-ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, JUAN GUAIDO, SAYING: "We propose to reiterate the illegitimacy of (Venezuelan President) Nicolas Maduro because there was no election of May 20 and starting on January 10, he will be usurping the presidency of the nation. And in consequence, this National Assembly, as the only power legitimately elected by the Venezuelan people, will assume the representation of the people as we should and must." GUAIDO SPEAKING The newly elected chief of Venezuela's opposition-ran Congress on January 10, 2015 calls President Nicolas Maduro a "dictator" and calls his government "de facto." CARACAS, VENEZUELA (FILE - JANUARY 10, 2019) (REUTERS) GUAIDO AT NEWS CONFERENCE WITH VENEZUELA'S OPPOSITION (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NEWLY ELECTED CHIEF OF VENEZUELA'S OPPOSITION-RUN CONGRESS, LEGISLATOR JUAN GUAIDO, SAYING: "Nicolas Maduro, Nicolas you have to win with votes, you have to win with votes, elections should not be stolen, that's why you are illegitimate, no matter how you dress it up" GUAIDO DURING NEWS CONFERENCE, PEOPLE CLAPPING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NEWLY ELECTED CHIEF OF VENEZUELA'S OPPOSITION-RUN CONGRESS, LEGISLATOR JUAN GUAIDO, SAYING: "Venezuela has a de facto government for the first time since 1958. We have a dictatorship in Venezuela, for anyone who had any doubts. It's a government which was not elected with sovereignty, through votes but it was stolen. Sovereignty was robbed. He (Maduro) kidnapped the state for his own benefit."
- Embargoed: 16th January 2020 23:59
- Keywords: Donald Trump Guaido Hugo Chavez Juan Guaido Marquez Nicolas Maduro Russia Sergei Lavrov Tayyip Erdogan Trump Turkey Turkish President Erdogan Venezuelan PresidentPopular Will party Voluntad Popular
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- Country: Venezuela
- Topics: Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA004BUHZ5MV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS NOTE - GUIDO FILE FOOTAGE CONTINUES IN EDIT 8357-VENEZUELA-POLITICS/GUAIDO PROFILE-PART 2
Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido prepares for re-election as National Assembly leader on Sunday (January 5).
Guaido went 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.
In January last year, 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 goals.
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 2019 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 young daughter.
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, 2019 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.
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