“We’re at the Metropolitan University of Venezuela with the President of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó. Welcome to DW.
Thank you for the invitation to the channel and the program.
Three weeks have passed since you swore your oath in front of the multitude of people on January 23rd.
Since then you’ve become known in Europe as the “Venezuelan Obama.”
And in Germany, they’re asking me whether I’m speaking with the future elected leader of Venezuela.
Well, several elements. Surely there are characteristics that they attribute to leaderships.
Surely there will be a coincidence - but of course we want to have our own agenda characteristic of Venezuela and very much connected to our people.
With regard to that possibility, we have to forcefully build, with all the support we have had at the international level, this chapter that we are currently living in in Venezuela.
We have to stop the pillaging, construct a transitional government, and my role at this time is to articulate.
This future of free elections – that’s the last chapter in this process and it must be accompanied by all the factors of unity and work against the factors that have been built in this political moment.
And then we will see who will represent us in this free election.
If you are giving that much importance to the National Assembly, why didn’t you conduct your swearing in ceremony in the National Assembly?
Why do it instead in front of thousands of people who have caused controversy in the media and different organizations?
Well, for several reasons.
The first is that at no point when I take the oath as President of the Parliament do I assume the powers, of course, of our Constitution.
But in Venezuela today we live a dictatorship - a kidnapping of the public powers, a kidnapping of the Armed Forces.
I was even physically kidnapped on January 13th and we said on that same day of January 5th when the ceremony took place that we will build the capacities to be able to bring results to our people.
To be able to reunite the political and social organizing power to be able to stop the government take over.
Then gather the abilities of this great civilian movement that has stayed active and has been agitating in the streets of Venezuela - the international support, the clear message to the armed forces.
It then let’s us enact the capabilities from January 23 and we have reunited part of the history of 27 in part because although we are still in a dictatorship today in Venezuela
that uses weapons to intimidate, that uses the treat of jail to intimidate, that threaten with non-existent elections, in the case of Parliament.
We have gathered those powers to fully exercise the goal of stopping this government take over and forming a transitional government that will bring about new elections.
Let's talk about humanitarian aid. There is tension on the border with Colombia, there is tension on the border with Brazil and we receive information that now there is humanitarian aid in Venezuela. Is that true?
We managed to hand out a small portion of humanitarian aid today to save lives.
4.500 nutritional supplements for malnourished expecting mothers, to prevent spinal bifida among other ailments, to save unborn lives.
And we also handed out nearly 85.000 nutritional supplements for malnourished youths, children and babies in order to stabilize them.
Initially 85,000, which means 1.7 million portions. That’s not enough. It only covers a short period of time. That’s why we need to open a humanitarian corridor.
So of course there is tension on the border – and there should be - but not on the border itself.
There is tension in the armed forces and a small, a very small portion of the regime that ignores there is a crisis.
That denies it and denies the migration of almost 15% of our population in the last years, precisely as a result of this humanitarian crisis.
It’s a regime that ignores a 2 million percent inflation that Venezuela suffers as a result of bad management and corruption.
A regime that ignores that 53% of out GDP dropped in the past five years due to badly managed public funds.
So I understand that there is tension on their side because they cannot recognize the crisis they created, the crisis they have pushed upon the Venezuelan people.
But on the other hand, you have a society full of hope that humanitarian aid will enter. As a first step.
Because we know it’s not the solution to the crisis. What we want is an end to the takeover of the government in order to stabilize the situation and open up the humanitarian corridor.
To be able to govern properly, reinstall the governmental institutions and implement development plans. To stop the growth of hyperinflation that has been unleashed in Venezuela.
Rescue our petroleum industry, generate jobs, among other things.
So, of course there’s tension in a very small part of the population that knows that they have no solution for the people of Venezuela.
There’s unease in the government of Nicolas Maduro that that humanitarian aid comes with a military intervention.
Aren’t you afraid for the safety of these volunteers that are trying to bring aid into the country?
Look, the risk lies with the regime that is usurping the abilities or whatever actions that could be used to reunite the social forces, political forces, the volunteers.
To speak frankly to the armed forces was the legitimate use of our abilities at a national level in Venezuela in order to save lives.
Over the past few days eight children have died, all of them younger than three years old, due to diarrhea and vomiting.
They were in a state of malnutrition and dehydration. That’s to say that kids should never have to die from a lack of food or proper hospital care.
Think about the gravity of the fact that we have, as the one in charge, a president – the man who is in charge of the armed forces –
even though we know the fact that there is fear within those armed forces, we will still exert the pressure needed to get this aid into the country.
Is there a concern that this aid won’t be able to enter Venezuela?
Well, it’s a possibility. No doubt about it. It’s an option that the regime has studied yesterday in a humanitarian camp as a pilot project for all the other states in the country,
to try to sabotage this process. And they tried to sabotage the situation but couldn’t do it.
I think it’s going to be very similar when thousands or hundreds of thousands of volunteers are prepared to enter.
And we will always appeal to the conscience of the armed forces, that they pick the constitutional side.
And again, we have been very clear with the armed forces that they have to allow humanitarian aid to enter and whoever blocks it will be tried for a human rights violation.
What’s happening in Venezuela could be considered a silent genocide when you've had hundreds of thousands who've died because of a shortage of food and medicine.
And this regime hasn't protected people’s right to life in Venezuela.
So this regime is responsible for direct deaths - like in the case of the special forces that killed over 70 people in a week for protesting,
and for indirect deaths, because they are not doing anything to solve the food and medicine crisis.
And including our crime rates that have made Caracas into the most dangerous capital city on the planet.
You said recently that there could be an American military intervention. Are you not worried that that would put the region at risk and destabilize it as has happened in other countries?
No, I didn’t say that. It’s important that I say that. I’ve been asked a lot about that possibility that one country can provide that sort of support for us.
I’ve made it clear that every decision that Venezuela makes will be taken in a sovereign manner.
That includes the decisions that are made by me as the interim president, or by the national parliament. Our job is to ensure the lives of Venezuelans.
We want to generate stability in government, focus on the emergency and come out of the dictatorship.
We'll decide what force is needed to put an end to the usurpation.
The international press finds it very easy to focus just on that element [foreign intervention]
but they've minimized the struggle that has taken place for years to build a majority who have stood up to the regime.
We won the elections with a huge majority; protested... We to have faced a dictatorship that resists a democratic national movement which won Parliament with an overwhelming majority,
that has voted time and time again, that has protested the more than 1000 political prisoners, of which threehundred remain behind bars or in exile.
It's wrong then to focus on that and not talk about the all the effort and sacrifice in Venezuela.
But it is clear that your transition government has received a lot of support from the United States.
There's a fear that it is a double-edged sword because your enemies have used it to attack you. Don't you think?
I don’t think so, but in any case they don’t have many arguments left.
What’s more, that would minimize the support from Germany. They've even established a fund, which we are very grateful for - especially the humanitarian aid.
Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, the UK, France, Spain, Morocco, Israel, Japan and another 60 countries have lent their support.
It's the biggest coalition in the world in support of the democratic constitution of Venezuela. This is an attempt to shift focus on to a conflict that isn't ours. Venezuela has an unprecedented coalition of support for a cause that is democratic and constitutional.
Journalists ask me why I'm still free. Because we're working within our constitution, because there is massive public support behind this cause, because of the support of the international community but most of all because of this is a profoundly democratic and popular movement.
Do you think Europe has done enough to help you during this process?
I think Europe has done a lot. Not just by imposing sanctions for financial corruption and breaching human rights.
They've recognized an interim government that wants to hold elections as soon as that usurpation ends, they've provided humanitarian aid, made constant proclamations (of support).
I think there is an active participation on their part because of fundamental values in this country, which are democracy and freedom.
Very few members of the military have recognized you as the interim president of Venezuela. Why do think they still support Nicolas Maduro?
Well, there are many reasons. One is that they control national media communications. You've probably seen a lot of us in the international press but compare that to the number of television shows I've been invited to in Venezuela. Not one.
It's incredible. This as the whole world is watching what is happening in Venezuela but within in the country there's dictatorial censorship.
There's no parallel situation to this - 80-90% of the military feel the same way as the 80-90% of the general population - that they can't live with the wages that they receive, that they are being harassed, their families want to leave the country or are dying because there's no medicine available.
The number hasn't been small - of sergeants, despite being harassed, who support us. The general of the active division of the Air Force recognized me.
There are also embassy staff who have recognized me and are working for this new government that is transitional and trying to generate stability to this country. A country that is clamoring for basic rights.
There's a lot of harassment going on. There are 660 members of the military across the country being tortured. At this very moment the sergeant - in the organs of the Military Counterintelligence Directorate who mentioned families being tortured or disappeared.
Once again, this despite this, there is an important awakening, or reawakening because for so long we have been mobilizing in the streets. This is a dictatorship here, there is persecution in Venezuela, there is torture, there is a generation of torture. At this moment.
And what permits me to continue talking to you, is the large mobilization of people and international support and our constitution – despite the temptations.
They have already kidnapped me once and they have threatened my family on a couple of occasions and we've already seen what they do with dissidents in Venezuela. It's probable that they will attempt it again but we will stand firm.
Yes, in fact Diosdado Cabello, the former speaker of the National Constitutional Assembly said that when the pressure goes down, they want to put in jail. You don’t think that the pressure is going down but that the pressure is going up on the part of the Maduro government.
Time is running out for Nicolas Maduro's regime. It has no future because he has no proposals and does not have public support. He has no direction.
He's not protecting his people -- and this is against the popular movement that is growing, being mobilized and gaining international support. It's also presenting plans for the country, presenting a plan to stabilize Venezuela.
It's unstoppable. They can continue to do the only thing they know how to do -- and that's repression, torture, persecution or simply robbing money from Venezuela.
But what is unstoppable is that we are going to have a peaceful democratic transition in Venezuela for the good of the people.
Do you think there’s a risk that the Venezuelan people may give up, or that the support from the international community may lose climax, should this transition take longer than expected because of this intense conflict of powers?
The Venezuelan people have been fighting for 20 years to rescue their democracy. In the last five years they’ve been fighting even more intensively.
We are not going to backtrack and we’re not going to postpone a transition that is inevitable. Nicolas Maduro’s regime is trying to normalize a conflict that cannot be normalized.
Because children are dying, people are being persecuted. They’ve lost control of the country, while we now have gained the protection of most countries in the world.
They can’t maintain their bureaucracy. Also Maduro’s regime is one that demands contributions in exchange for its support, and this is something that has become clear to its followers.
The Venezuelan people is very determined and that makes it unbeatable.
What can Venezuela learn from Germany’s experience? Germans were able to recover from a socialist dictatorship after the fall of the Berlin Wall. What lessons can Venezuela draw from this?
Venezuela can learn a lot from it the German case. We have gone through 20 years of intolerance and social segregation. So I think we can draw some comparisons with what happened in Germany.
The process that we have started, or better reignited, in 2019 in Venezuela is also a process of reunification and reconstruction. So there are certainly many elements in common with Germany’s reunification.
In Venezuela this reunification is being achieved by what is already happening. There was a time when we were divided into poor and rich in Venezuela, into left and right-winged.
The truth is that today in Venezuela we are all poor. We are not able to save money, we can’t improve our social status because we are lacking public services. 85% of households in Venezuela don’t even have access to running water.
We are united not only out of necessity but also out of aspiration. We are fighting for our rights. We are pushing for a transition process that I’m sure has a lot in common with what people experienced in Germany some years ago.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much.