President, please take this message back to your homeland,” Trump said to Guaidó. The U.S. and nearly 60 other governments say Maduro’s 2018 re-election was not legitimate and that Guaido, as leader of the National Assembly, should be named interim president under the Venezuelan constitution. Maduro, however, remains in control, having faced down a failed military uprising, a brief renewal of mass anti-government protests and U.S. sanctions. Earlier, the White House said Ivan Simonovis, the former police chief in Caracas who was imprisoned in 2004 and held in captivity for nearly 15 years, also would be a guest. Simonovis was sentenced to 30 years in prison on what he considered trumped-up charges of ordering police to fire on pro-government demonstrators during a coup against then-President Hugo Chavez.

Source: Washington Post February 05, 2020 01:30 UTC