Venezuela’s Guaido asks Italy’s leaders to meet his envoys
February 6, 2019
Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido has asked Italy’s ruling coalition leaders to meet with representatives as he seeks their explicit backing as interim president alongside almost all other European countries.
The hard-right League has expressed strong support for Guaido, but coalition partner the 5-Star Movement has not, making Italy the only major European Union nation not to recognize him as Venezuela’s temporary head of state.
In a Feb. 5 letter distributed by League leader and deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini’s office on Wednesday, Guaido asks if he can send a delegation “to illustrate the plan of action to renew democracy in Venezuela” through fair elections.
“The current humanitarian crisis is hitting all Venezuelans, including the more than 100,000 Italians who live in Venezuela,” it said. A 5-Star government source said its leader Luigi Di Maio had received a similar letter.
