Sharjah24 - AFP: President Gustavo Petro of Colombia said on Tuesday that he would not evict Juan Guaido, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, but claimed that he had entered the nation illegally.
On Monday, Guaido claimed to have been kicked out of Colombia, hours after he arrived in Bogota ahead of a conference on his crisis-torn country hosted by Petro.
"Mr. Guaido was not expelled and it is better that this lie does not appear in politics," wrote Petro on Twitter.
Petro said Guaido had been allowed to travel to Miami, where he arrived on Tuesday, "for humanitarian reasons despite the illegal entry into the country."
Neither Guaido, recognized in 2019 by more than 50 countries as Venezuela's de facto leader, nor Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro were invited to attend Tuesday's conference.
The meeting ended with few concrete results announced. Diplomats emphasized "the need to establish an electoral calendar that allows free, transparent elections and with guarantees for all Venezuelan actors" in 2024, Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva told the press.
Petro organized the meeting in a bid to restart negotiations between Venezuela's government and the opposition that began in Mexico City in 2021 but hit a deadlock in November.
Venezuela's opposition, backed by many countries including the United States, did not recognize Maduro's 2018 re-election in a vote widely dismissed as fraudulent.
The next year, Washington ramped up sanctions against Caracas, which were first imposed in 2015 over the brutal repression of anti-government protests a year earlier.
Last month, a Venezuelan official said free presidential elections in 2024 were dependent on the lifting of sanctions.
For an optimal experience, please
