Venezuela’s Guaido meets Macron on charm offensive

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, on a charm offensive to back his bid to oust his country’s leader, yesterday claimed to have the “firm support” of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Guaido, recognised as Venezuela’s interim president by the United States and 50 other countries, has so far failed to bring down President Nicolas Maduro despite months of struggle and economic crisis.

On Saturday, Guaido told Europe 1 radio: “We had firm support from President Macron,” after the pair held talks in Paris on Friday.

“Today, Venezuela resembles Syria more than Cuba,” Guaido said, listing “10 million percent inflation, 65 percent drop in GDP in six years, 3.5 dollars a day per person, 83 percent of homes without running water.”

After the meeting at the Elysee Palace, Macron tweeted: “France supports the rapid organisation of a free and transparent presidential election” in Venezuela.

But Maduro’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza responded by telling Macron to concentrate on tackling the recent protests in his own  country.