Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó ejected from Colombia | The Guardian |

Guaidó lands in Miami after failed bid to attend summit hosted by leftwing president, with return to Venezuela looking unlikely

Venezuela's best-known opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, has touched down in the United States after being unceremoniously ejected from Colombia while attempting to gatecrash a summit about the political future of his crisis-stricken homeland.

Guaidó shot to fame in early 2019 and for a brief moment looked poised to topple Venezuela's authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, with the support of dozens of foreign governments including the US, UK and Brazil.

The Bank of England, claiming to act independently of the Foreign Office, had refused to release the $1.8bn worth of gold. It cited a British government decision in early 2019 to join dozens of nations in backing Guaidó on the basis that Maduro's election victory the previous year was rigged.

But four years later the 39-year-old's star has waned dramatically as a result of his failure to unseat Hugo Chávez's political heir. Maduro has crushed street protests and consolidated power. Most of the international community has abandoned Guaidó's parallel "presidency" and "interim government".

And key regional powers such as Colombia and Brazil have elected leftist leaders who have revived ties with Maduro's administration and condemned Guaidó's attempt to bring it down by using foreign pressure to spark a military uprising.

E-Vote Rigging in Venezuela? | Wired - Aug. 23, 2004 |

The Carter Center, which observed the election and a post-election audit, concluded in a report that the results "reflect the will of the Venezuelan people."

The $112-million optical-scan machines the country had been using were made by Nebraska-based Diebold's Election Systems and Software. The machines malfunctioned so badly on Election Day in 2001 that the government sent an air force jet to Nebraska to fetch ES&S technicians to fix them.

Nothing to Worry. All your votes will be counted by Diebold

'Sapere aude'