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Ex-Maduro Chief Of Staff Weighs In On Venezuela's Political Crisis

A Venezuelan holds a national flag during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro at Santander square in Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela, on Feb. 12, 2019. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)
A Venezuelan holds a national flag during a protest against the government of President Nicolas Maduro at Santander square in Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela, on Feb. 12, 2019. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó says he will open a “humanitarian corridor” into the country by Feb. 23, raising the stakes in the fight over who is the country’s legitimate president.

The political crisis now centers on a shipment of aid sent by the Trump Administration, which supports Guaido’s claim to power. President Nicolás Maduro’s government has refused the aid, creating a standoff at the border with Colombia.

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Temir Porras Ponceleón, who was chief of staff to Maduro until 2013 and was an adviser to former President Hugo Chávez. He is now a visiting professor at Sciences Po. Porras writes in The Guardian that international recognition of Guaidó as the country’s interim president “risks a bloody civil war.”

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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