The Standing Committee of the Free Russia Forum declares its recognition of Juan Guaidó as the legitimate, acting President of Venezuela.
STATEMENT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE FREE RUSSIA FORUM TO RECOGNIZE JUAN GUAIDÓ AS THE ACTING PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA
The Standing Committee of the Free Russia Forum declares its support for the citizens of Venezuela, who are defying the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro.
We consider Maduro to be an illegitimate president forcibly holding power resulting from the rigged “elections” that were held in the absence of real competition and which have not been recognized by most of the democratic law-abiding countries of the world.
Nicolas Maduro led Venezuela to an economic collapse, lost the support of Venezuela people, used repression against the opposition, and deprived opposition candidates from access to presidential elections, thereby provoking an acute political crisis and massive street protests.
Today it can be said that Maduro does not enjoy the support of the majority of Venezuelan citizens. His support in society is minimal, as evidenced by the massive protests that have swept through Venezuela.
Currently, Venezuela has a legitimate, democratically elected government, represented by the National Assembly (Parliament of Venezuela) and its chairman, Juan Guaidó, the acting President of Venezuela.
The Standing Committee of the Free Russia Forum declares its recognition of Juan Guaidó as the legitimate, acting President of Venezuela.
Guaidó assumed the duties of the interim President of Venezuela in accordance with Articles 233, 333 and 250 of the Constitution of Venezuela, with the support of the country’s democratically elected parliament, the National Assembly. He also enjoys the support of a significant part of the population of Venezuela and the world community.
Guaidó has been recognized as the acting President of Venezuela by democratic, free countries including: USA, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, and most countries of Latin America. Those nations standing for Maduro are largely those with authoritarian ruling regimes, including Russia, Belarus, China, Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Cuba, Nicaragua, Equatorial Guinea. Puppet pro-Russian regimes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia have also taken stands in favor of Maduro.
This division clearly indicates that the political infighting in Venezuela is not strictly local, but is a reflection of the global confrontation between the Free World and an axis of authoritarian, anti-democratic regimes, in which the Putin regime plays a major, if not the leading role. That is why Putin and his entourage so actively support the Maduro regime in Venezuela. They support it financially, by providing multibillion-dollar, obviously uncollectible, loans, to the detriment of the Russian economy and Russian citizens, and by military force, directing security personnel from semi-private Russian military organizations to Venezuela.
Under these circumstances, support for the democratic leader of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, is a part of the common struggle of all democratic forces against authoritarian regimes in general and with the Putin regime in particular.
We call on the acting President of Venezuela to hold free elections as soon as possible in order to transparently and democratically establish the will of the people of Venezuela.
Standing Committee of the Free Russia Forum:
Vladimir Ashurkov, Marat Guelman, Andrei Illarionov, Garry Kasparov, Daniil Konstantinov, Leonid Nevzlin, Ivan Tyutrin, Mark Feygin, Evgenia Chirikova.
