07.06.19: No Plans

Juan Guaido held a press conference this afternoon during which he spoke on a variety of topics, including the Oslo talks between the opposition and the Maduro regime.

On that issue, Guaido said that there were currently no plans for new talks. He elaborated by saying:

If we do head to a meeting, it would be to look for an end to the usurpation, a transitional government and free elections. But there [aren’t talks planned] today because if we don’t get closer to [those goals], then they won’t work.

Guaido said that Venezuela is currently living through “its darkest hours”, but suggested that he remained optimistic since he considers that Venezuelans are united in their quest for democracy. On past stumbles, Guaido said:

Of course we’ve had difficulties in the past, but we’ve built a lot over the past several years. First it was the strong, solid electoral unity [that we used to] defeat the dictatorship in [the parliamentary elections of] 2015… that didn’t come for free. That was a laborious, majority-building project.

Guaido also stressed that the reason why many foreign countries recognize him as the legitimate leader of Venezuela is because “they know that we are the majority”.

UNHCR Updates Venezuelan Migration Figures

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) updated its figures of Venezuelan migrants across the world saying, saying that it believes that 3.3. million Venezuelans have left their country since January 2016.

According to the UNHCR, the pace with which Venezuelans have been streaming out of the country has been “surprising”, and that the total number of migrants is “alarming” given the precarious state in which many of those individuals find themselves abroad.

Angelina Jolie to Visit Colombia-Venezuela Border

Angelina Jolie was scheduled to visit the Colombia-Venezuela border today in her capacity as a Special Envoy with the UNHCR. News of Jolie’s visit came via a press release on the UNHCR website.

According to the press release:

UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie will travel to Colombia’s border area with Venezuela on Friday to assess the humanitarian response to the exodus of Venezuelan refugees and migrants – the largest and fastest movement of people in Latin America’s recent history.

Jolie is undertaking a two-day mission to evaluate the enormous challenges that Colombia and other host countries are facing in responding to this unprecedented crisis.

Jolie will be accompanied on her mission by UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner Kelly Clements. They will hold a press conference tomorrow in La Guajira to talk about the migrant situation on the border.

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