Venezuelan Opposition Leader Juan Guaidó landed in Miami after he said he was told he had to leave Colombia Monday.
Diplomats from 20 countries gathered in Colombia to discuss the political crisis in Venezuela, where Nicolas Maduro’s socialist administration has strengthened its autocratic rule despite international efforts to expand political freedoms in the South American nation.
The conference is hosted by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has called for sanctions on Venezuela’s government to be lifted, but also for policies that ensure “more democracy” in Venezuela.
Guaidó, the former leader of Venezuela's National Assembly, traveled to Bogota intending to hold meetings with international delegates on the conference sidelines. But after he announced he was in the country, Colombia officials said he had entered illegally and asked him to board a flight to Miami. Guaidó has been barred from leaving Venezuela since 2019.
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The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release Monday night that Guaidó was "irregularly" in the country and that's why he was taken to the airport.
"The persecution of the dictatorship unfortunately extended to Colombia today," Guaidó said in the video from inside a plane.
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Maduro was re-elected in 2018, after judges banned his main opponents from competing. But most opposition parties refused to recognize the election results. Instead they challenged Maduro's rule by creating an interim government led by Guaidó, who was backed by the United States and dozens of nations who stopped recognizing Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate leader.
Guaidó's claim to Venezuela's presidency fizzled out over the past two years as his interim government failed to exert control over any institutions. Opposition parties in Venezuela dissolved it late last year, and replaced it with a committee that includes leaders from the nation's main three parties.
