(CNN)In a plaza in Caracas, surrounded by supporters carrying flags and chanting for democracy, Juan Guaidó, a 35 year-old legislator from a coastal town in Venezuela swore “to assume all the powers of the presidency to secure an end to the usurpation.” The event was widely reported as “Guaidó declares himself President of Venezuela.” This language, the idea that he “declared himself,” suggests images of banana republics and of misguided attempts to claim foreign pieces of land for oneself or one’s children a la Jeremiah Heaton and Princess Emily. This language misrepresents what happened in Venezuela on Wednesday. Guaidó did not “declare himself” president of the South American country. He assumed the presidency of Venezuela as constitutionally mandated.
Guaidó was
elected to represent his home state of Vargas in the Venezuelan National Assembly, the unicameral legislature, in December 2015. He was part of a group of opposition legislators that handed then-President Nicolás Maduro his first significant electoral defeat. Maduro responded by
attempting to strip the legislature of its powers. Maduro had the Venezuelan Supreme Court, a judicial body that is not independent,
rule all of the powers of the National Assembly be passed on to the court. The court later reversed its decision. A few months later, Maduro called for elections for a new
Constituent Assembly, which would assume the legislative power. The opposition boycotted the election. Through all of this maneuvering, the opposition-controlled National Assembly
continued to meet regularly to seek ways to restore democratic order in Venezuela.
Maduro’s actions against the National Assembly and the subsequent bogus election of the Constitutional Assembly caught the attention of the international community. The US slapped the regime with
sanctions in 2017. The country and the regime were, and remain, in crisis. The country’s economy continues to suffer from falling oil prices,
dwindling oil production, and mismanagement of resources.
