Spanish – Just as Julius Caesar decided to cross the Rubicon River on the night of January 11-12, 49 B.C., and thus challenge the tyrant Pompey to win his freedom, Juan Guaidó must pursue the conquest of his own Rubicon.
Antonio Ledezma presented some of the following points during his meeting in Madrid on January 25. However, it was Ambassador Diego Arria, in an exclusive conversation with the PanAm Post, who revealed the risks they would be willing to take to accompany Juan Guaidó in the final stretch of his fight for freedom.
The strategy is to create a political moment that will trigger the most massive popular rebellion ever against the dictatorship. It requires the willingness of two actors: Juan Guaidó with real allies and the people in the streets.
Getting citizens to protest again will not be an easy task if we don’t regain the trust betrayed by the 2019 dialogues and the April 30 cohabitation pact. According to Arria, confidence can be restored if the right steps are taken.
The optimal time to build this moment is now and seems imminent: the return of Juan Guaidó to Venezuela through the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía.
Diego Arria and Antonio Ledezma, whom both have arrest warrants issued against them, would be alongside Juan Guaidó, as would former Latin American presidents, intellectuals, diplomats, activists, and international journalists. All on one plane, putting their freedom at risk but taking the final step to win the battle.
All those who would accompany Guaidó will be asking him for one thing in exchange for taking the risk: that he assumes his historical role with absolute autonomy and separate himself from the parties.
“If I tell Guaidó that he must enter Maiquetía because that’s his Rubicon, I must be willing to go with him. And I am willing to do so if there is a guarantee on his part that there will be a representative government of the country that is truly one of resistance and combat. I would not even go around the nearby corner to support this current collegiate government. This is the moment for leadership; Guaidó has the opportunity to become a great leader, or simply to go down in history as a leader,” says Arria.
The ambassador goes further: he proposes the creation of a Government Advisory Council in which Guaidó appoints María Corina Machado as Vice President of the Republic and Enrique Aristeguieta as Minister of the Interior or Defence.
This government council, chaired by Guaidó, will have to make a final appeal to the Armed Forces, and together with foreign allies, put unprecedented pressure on the dictatorship in the streets.
Combined internal and external forces until we overthrow the regime
Arria believes that the list of international political figures willing to enter Venezuela with Juan Guaidó is extensive. These could include Luis Almagro, Mario Vargas Llosa, Tuto Quiroga, Andrés Pastrana, Laura Chinchilla, among others.
There is only one condition. They are only waiting for the man who must decide to accept.
Here is the complete conversation with Diego Arria.