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Juan Guaidó To End World Tour In Miami On Saturday Before Returning To Venezuela

Interim Venezuelan President Juan Guaido (left) and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meet at Trudeau's Parliament Hill office on Monday in Ottawa.
Justin Tang
/
The Canadian Press/via AP
Interim Venezuelan President Juan Guaido (left) and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meet at Trudeau's Parliament Hill office on Monday in Ottawa.

UPDATED JAN. 30

Venezuelan opposition leader and interim Venezuelan President Juan Guaidó has been on a world tour since last week —  trying to rekindle international support for his effort to oust President Nicolás Maduro. His aides announced Miami will be the last stop on that tour before Guaidó returns to Venezuela.

Carlos Vecchio, Guaidó’s ambassador in Washington, said Guaidó will come to Doral on Saturday to meet with the Venezuelan community. Details of the visit will come later this week.  UPDATE: Guaidó will appear at the Miami Airport Convention Center (711 NW 72nd Ave) on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 2 pm.

Since last week, Guaidó has traveled to Colombia, Europe and Canada urging world leaders to be tougher on Venezuela’s authoritarian socialist regime. It’s been a year since the U.S. and some 60 other countries recognized Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president. But his movement has stalled.

It got a boost this week when Guaidó met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government said it wants to help “reinvigorate” the effort to restore democracy in Venezuela.

But even exiles in South Florida have begun to despair as they watch Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro survive deep U.S. economic sanctions.

Guaidó could face prison when he returns to Venezuela: He was officially barred from leaving the country before he snuck out last week. But his advisers insist the positive response he’s got on his tour — and the outpouring he’ll likely get in Miami — will make Maduro think twice about jailing him.

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Tim Padgett is the Americas editor for Miami NPR affiliate WLRN, covering Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with South Florida. He has reported on Latin America for almost 30 years - for Newsweek as its Mexico City bureau chief from 1990 to 1996, and for Time as its Latin America bureau chief in Mexico and Miami (where he also covered Florida and the U.S. Southeast) from 1996 to 2013.