Venezuelan security forces blocked opposition leader Juan Guaido and his backers from entering the National Assembly, preventing him from partaking in a session where he was expected to be re-elected as the legislature’s leader. In Mr. Guaido’s absence, loyalists to President Maduro, without holding a formal vote, selected Luis Parra, a member of Mr. Maduro’s party, as head of the body. The majority of the assembly's lawmakers proceeded to meet in emergency session elsewhere, re-electing Mr. Guaido, standing their ground against the illegitimate regime's attempt, but creating two competing leaders of parliament in a nation already caught in a political standoff, suffering a hyperinflationary economic collapse.
The United States, Latin American countries, and the European Union condemned Mr. Maduro’s attempts to gain control over the last independent institution in Venezuela as unacceptable, illegitimate, and marking a new step in the deterioration of the Venezuelan crisis. The latest crisis comes nearly a year after Mr. Guaido declared himself the country’s acting president, with the support of the assembly, the US, and nearly 60 other countries. Mr. Guaido’s campaign against Mr. Maduro has been faltering over the last year and this move was an attempt to further weaken him. Some say Mr. Maduro’s move could backfire, however, by re-legitimizing Mr. Guaido as a “democratic martyr."
