On January 9, the Atlantic Council organized an event to discuss the businesses that maintain Nicolas Maduro in power, also the situation on January 5, when the National Assembly was supposed to vote for new leadership that was previously held by Juan Guaidó. Congress members from Venezuela Americo de Grazia and Miguel Pizarro were part of the panel, also Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) and Deborah Wasserman (D-FL).
Pizarro highlighted the absurd that the military body was deciding -from superior orders- which congressman could have access to or not to the National Assembly. Maduro ordered to deploy the military forces in front of the National Assembly as a method to filter the entrance to the legislative body. Some members of Congress -most of them accused of corruption- were able to get access and voted for new leadership. Pizarro mentioned that there are not two leaderships in the National Assembly, there’s only one, he emphasized that the National Assembly is not a physical building or location. Instead, the members of Congress are the one who serves and exercise their duties no matter the place.
Miguel Pizarro gave a bit of background on how they began 2020. More than 20 members of Congress in the exile forced to leave their country, Congressman Juan Requesens, in jail for more than 500 days without trial, Congressman Fernando Alban, who died in prison under the custody of SEBIN (Bolivarian Service of Intelligence). He affirmed that it wasn’t easy to deal with a regime that manipulates all the institutions.
Juan Guaidó named Americo de Grazia as president of the Mine Arch Comision. De Grazia denounced that since 2006, in Venezuela, there are more than four types of guerillas or armed groups installed. In the territory, there are more than 1900 mining areas. The FANB (National Bolivarian Armed Force) distributed those areas between ELN, FARC, Hezbollah, and HAMAS. Those terrorist groups exploit natural resources without any control. What happened on January 5 for Grazia could have been ordered by Russia since the National Assembly is the institution that can give authorization for those activities; controlling the National Assembly would signify the legitimate exploitation of the resources.
Members of the House, Rooney and Wasserman, are preoccupied not only because of the crisis in Venezuela but also in Venezuelans living in the US without legal status. Both are members of the recently formed Venezuelan Caucus; they agreed that there’s a necessity of TPS for Venezuelans. Democrats have been clear about giving TPS, they started the process in the House of Representatives, but Republicans in the Senate blocked it. However, Rep. Roonet assured that Venezuelans are helping and contributing to the economy in South Florida, so they should have a status that allows them to stay and work until the crisis is gone.