Guaidó said that "all possibilities are possible," a few hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the Army's dispatch to the Caribbean. Trump has said he has done this military exercise to stop cocaine from reaching the United States. Since the invasion of Panama in 1989, the area has not been the scene of such an intense military operation. Maduro, in collaboration with the FARC, has carried out the military movement a few days after being accused of drug trafficking during the operation.

The self-proclaimed president, Guaidó, has clearly expressed his desire that the referendum on self-proclamation: "There is a joint work between the United States and our allies. The aim is to create pressure against the dictatorship.”

Trump has stated that Venezuela can be the country with the most deaths and infections in South America and has therefore advocated the creation of an emergency government. Guaidó has joined this petition and added that in that government should be all sectors of the country except those that have drug trafficking, terrorism or crimes against human rights, among others. These latest crimes are those which the United States has accused the Maduro Government.

Maduro and the government without guaidó

United States has called on Venezuela to hold presidential elections by the end of 2020. Meanwhile, it has announced its intention to form a "transitional government", in which neither Maduro nor Guaidó nor the Basque Nationalist Party participate. Five representatives from central government parties and opposition parties would be represented on the Council of State.

The president of the transitional government could not stand for the presidential elections, but American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has made an exception with Juan Guaidó: "At the moment, he is Venezuela's most beloved politician," he added. The statement concludes by saying that Guaidó has done a great job and continues to count on the support of the United States, and that Maduro is never going to govern again in Venezuela, he added.

The Russian Foreign Minister, María Zajárova, has spoken out against this decision by the European Union. He said that Western countries want to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis in Venezuela to strike a coup and added that this type of proposal in the midst of the pandemic generates "an absolute sense of absurdity".

Internal fracture

Guaidó wants to seize “every opportunity” to topple Maduro from the government. This position has led to discrepancies within the opposition, as some disagree with the participation of the United States. Stalin González, one of the great allies of Guaidó so far, has made this assessment in statements to La Vanguardia. “Talking about transition and rupture is a contradiction. I don’t think we can get out of this crisis with the break.”

Gonzalez and other opposition leaders have been in favour of pragmatic reconciliation. The coronavirus crisis can be a propitious situation for such reconciliation, as a large sector of the opposition has given its approval to the confinement of the entire country.

"Chavism, whether you like it or not, is a political force. We have to find a space to make politics,” says González, and says that, whatever the situation, Chavism has to participate in the elections.