Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó said Colombia threatened to deport him after he fled to Bogotá to escape persecution.
(Bloomberg) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó said Colombia threatened to deport him after he fled to Bogotá to escape persecution.
Guaidó said his voice “wasn’t allowed to be heard” in Colombia, where President Gustavo Petro hosted an international summit this week in a bid to unblock Venezuela’s political stalemate.
Guaidó told reporters in Miami on Thursday that he had hoped to meet with some of people attending Petro’s event, but was instead escorted by migration officials to Bogotá’s airport, where he took a flight to the US.
For years, Colombia served as the unofficial headquarters of Venezuelan opposition figures who feared repression back home from the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Petro restored diplomatic relations with Caracas as soon as he took office last year and has since met with Maduro four times, making some Venezuelan dissidents in Colombia feel that they are no longer safe from extradition.
- Read more: Venezuela’s Guaidó Arrives in Miami After Being Shunned by Petro
In a tweet, Petro denied that Guaidó had been expelled from the country and said he had prearranged plans to move onto the US, which Guaidó denied. Colombia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Guaidó said he will travel to Washington next week, where he will hold meetings with US officials, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin.
–With assistance from Oscar Medina.
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