Venezuelan Government Bans Opposition Leader from Public Office for 15 Years

On Thursday, April 8, the Venezuelan government barred Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader, from holding public office for 15 years. Guaidó, the President of the Venezuelan Parliament, is recognized by most Western countries as the interim President of Venezuela. In early January of last year, he called for the removal of Nicolás Maduro, declaring his victory in the 2018 presidential election illegitimate. According to Reuters, Elvis Amoroso, the head of Venezuela's Comptroller General's Office, stated that Guaidó's disqualification was due to financial misconduct. Amoroso claimed that Guaidó failed to provide a clear explanation regarding the funding of his foreign trips. Last month, Guaidó traveled to South American countries and garnered support from several leaders. Amoroso initiated an investigation into Guaidó's assets last month following allegations of financial misconduct and receiving money from illegal sources. Meanwhile, Guaidó stated at a rally that Amoroso's claims are baseless, emphasizing that only the Parliament has the legal authority to appoint the head of the Comptroller's Office. Reuters notes that this recent action by the Comptroller's Office indicates that Nicolás Maduro's government is preparing to intensify pressure on Guaidó. Guaidó has called for public protests on Saturday in response to power outages in the country, holding the government responsible for the outages and stating, 'The power cuts are evidence of extreme incompetence, and the electricity sector will improve only when these usurpers step back.' This week, power outages plunged many cities in Venezuela into darkness, although power was restored in Caracas on Thursday. This was the second wave of nationwide power cuts in the past month.