Venezuela's opposition figure Guaido travels to Colombia, defies travel ban

BOGOTA, Colombia 

Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guaido entered Colombia on Monday to attend a summit organized by Colombian President Gustavo Petro in the capital, Bogota, that seeks to promote talks between the Venezuelan government and the opposition.  

Guaido left Caracas on Saturday by land and arrived on Monday in Colombian territory. In a statement published on his Twitter account, the opposition leader said he had crossed the border into Colombia “on foot” and intended to meet with international delegates attending Tuesday’s summit.

"I just arrived in Colombia, the same way millions of Venezuelans have done before me, on foot," he said in the statement.

Guaido's trip to Colombia breaches a ban to leave the country imposed by Venezuela’s Supreme Court in January 2019. The opposition leader also defied the court-imposed ban to travel to Colombia in Jan 2020.

The politician held until the beginning of the year the interim presidency that received the support of Washington and more than 50 other countries.

He has denounced increasing threats against him by the government of President Nicolas Maduro during recent says.

"In the last few days, the regime has again raised threats against me and its objective is to silence my voice. I am not going to allow that to Maduro," he said in the statement.

The Colombian government has said that “only the countries invited to participate in the conversation” will be allowed to attend Venezuela's summit.

Colombia convened representatives of several countries in Europe, Latin America and the United States to attend the meeting aimed at resolving the political crisis in the neighbouring country.