Juan Guaidó

Juan Gerardo Antonio Guaidó Márquez (born 28 July 1983) is a Venezuelan politician and opposition figure. He belonged to the social-democratic party Popular Will, and was a federal deputy to the National Assembly representing the state of Vargas. He was a key figure in the Venezuelan presidential crisis between 2019 and 2023, when he was recognized by 88 countries, the European Parliament, Andean Parliament, Organization of American States etc. as the legitimate president of Venezuela vis-à-vis Nicolás Maduro by 49 countries.

Guaidó's political career began when he emerged as a student leader in the 2007 Venezuelan protests. He then helped found the Popular Will party with Leopoldo López in 2009, and was elected to be an alternate deputy in the National Assembly one year later in 2010. In 2015, Guaidó was elected as a full-seat deputy. Following a protocol to annually rotate the position of President of the National Assembly among political parties, Popular Will nominated Guaidó for the position in 2019.

On 23 January 2019, the National Assembly, which viewed the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election as illegitimate and refused to recognize the inauguration of Maduro to a second presidential term on 10 January, declared that he was acting president of Venezuela and Guaidó swore himself into office, starting the Venezuelan presidential crisis.

The Maduro administration froze Guaidó's Venezuelan assets, launched a probe accusing Guaidó of foreign interference, and threatened violence against him. Following a failed April 2019 uprising, representatives of Guaidó and Maduro began mediation. In January 2020, security forces prevented Guaidó and other congress members from entering the legislative palace during an internal election to choose the board of directors. A majority of lawmakers held an "emergency meeting" and voted to re-elect Guaidó as their leader, while the remaining lawmakers at the legislative palace elected Luis Parra. Security forces denied Guaidó and opposition lawmakers access to parliament many times since.