Upon resigning his post as diplomatic representative of Juan Guaidó, recognized as Venezuela’s interim president by dozens of countries, Julio Borges argued that the interim government should disappear because it lost legitimacy, two weeks after the defeat in regional elections.
“The notion of interim government has to disappear completely, we cannot go on with a payroll, a bureaucracy that last year reached almost 1,600 people,” Borges, also a former speaker of Parliament, argued to journalists during a videoconference he held from Colombia, where he is exiled. “We asked you to eliminate this completely.” He also said that the opposition government has become deformed.
The now former member of the Guaidó administration will present his proposal to end the interim government to a commission formed by members of the Venezuelan Legislative elected in 2015, whose term ended in January 2021, when he assumed a new National Assembly, with a majority government, chosen in December of last year.
Borges also warned that the fight to leave the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro, whose reelection in 2018 is not recognized by the opposition, which considers it fraudulent, lacks legitimacy. “[Perdemos] International support because there have been too many contradictions, too many mistakes, too many scandals and this has made the world put the Venezuelan case on hold.”
Therefore, he added, it is necessary to rebuild and gain strength in order to regain recognition inside and outside the country.
The proposal to be presented seeks a change of path in the opposition, whose fragmentation was evident in the regional elections, which had the participation of opposing candidates after a boycott that had lasted since 2015.
In the November 21 election, Chavismo won 20 of the 23 governments in the country, as well as the mayor of the capital Caracas. It was the first poll with the participation of independent international observers in 15 years, which also had the return of the opposition, absent since 2018. Only 41.8% of voters participated, however.
The former diplomatic representative also questioned the corruption cases linked to the interim government. “The subject of assets [fora da Venezuela] it’s really a scandal,” he said. “There is no political will of the parties to do what needs to be done: create a trust so that these assets are separated from the management of political parties, especially Juan Guaidó’s party, and there you can have independence and transparency.”
So far, Guaidó has not commented.
.
