Venezuela’s Guaido to meet Bolsonaro in Brazil

Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared acting president Juan Guaido waves during a meeting with Foreign Ministers of the Lima Group at Colombia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry in Bogota, on February 25, 2019. – US Vice President Mike Pence passed on a message from Donald Trump to Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido on Monday, telling him “we are with you 100 percent.” Pence and Guaido met in Colombia’s capital during a meeting of regional allies to discuss their next move in response to the crisis in Venezuela. (Photo by Diana Sanchez / AFP)

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido is due to meet Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia on Thursday, sources from both camps said.

Guaido, recognized as interim president by 50 countries, will travel to the Brazilian capital on Wednesday evening from Colombia, where he has stayed since Friday despite a travel ban imposed by the regime of Venezuela’s socialist leader Nicolas Maduro.

Brazil and Colombia are Guaido allies that have been holding humanitarian aid the National Assembly speaker wants to bring into Venezuela.

He failed to do that over the weekend as a military blockade ordered by Maduro held firm.

The Guaido camp source said he had not yet decided if he will visit the border area with Venezuela where four people were killed in weekend clashes with Maduro’s security services.

Guaido met US Vice President Mike Pence at a Lima Group meeting with regional allies in Bogota on Monday, after which he said he would return home this week, despite having received threats.

“A prisoner is no use to anyone. Neither is a president in exile,” Guaido told NTN24 television channel on Tuesday.

“My role and my duty is to be in Caracas, despite the risks and regardless of what that implies.”

Maduro told ABC News in the United States that Guaido would have to face justice when he returns as he flouted a ban on foreign travel.

Guaido has dismissed Maduro’s authority as illegitimate over his controversial re-election in May polls that were boycotted by the opposition because many of its leaders were prevented from standing.

Venezuela has been struck by a humanitarian crisis that has left millions in poverty amid chronic shortages of basic necessities such as food and medication.