Alberto Fernandez, the president-elect of Argentina, announced today that he would not invite Maduro to attend his swearing-in ceremony, setting the tone for what could be cooler-than-expected relations between the two leaders. According to Infobae, Fernandez also chose to not invite Iran’s Hasan Rohani and Bolivia’s Jeanine Áñez to the December 10 ceremony.
When Fernandez was elected president of Argentina on October 27th, observers speculated that he would be closer to Maduro than his predecessor, Mauricio Macri, who was one of the loudest critics of his regime. These speculations were stoked by the fact that Fernandez’s running mate and the future vice president of Argentina is Kristina Kirchner, who was herself president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015 and one of Chavez and Maduros’ closest allies.
Fernandez has shied away from voicing open support for Maduro, but he has also danced around condemning his authoritarian regime. In an August interview, Fernandez said that it was difficult for him to qualify Maduro as a dictator, but suggested that his government might be “autocratic”.
And, in a tweet thanking Maduro for congratulating him in his electoral win this past October 27, Fernandez took the chance to talk about democracy:
Thank you [Maduro] for your congratulations. Latin America should work together to overcome poverty and the inequality from which it suffers. The unquestioned survival of democracy is the way to achieve this.
Expectation Brewing as Former Colombia Ambassador Set to Speak
Yesterday, the Venezuelan political world was rocked by the news that Humberto Calderon Berti, the opposition ambassador to Colombia, had been removed from his position without a clear explanation from opposition leader Juan Guaido.
Today, Calderon announced that he is going to held a press conference tomorrow at 10:00 AM. He made the announcement through his official Twitter account:
To those media outlets that might be interested.
Tomorrow at 10:00 AM I will make comments about these latest developments, in an open manner and without any restriction, at the following location:
NH Hotel
85 Street #12-28
Bogota, Colombia
Calderon’s surprise removal warranted reactions of shock and disappointment from some opposition politicians, including Maria Corina Machado.
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