CARACAS, Venezuela — For more than a month, opposition leader Juan Guaido’s audacious campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro captivated the world while bringing hope to millions of desperate Venezuelans. But his U.S.-backed movement to unseat the socialists is at a crossroads, in danger of losing its greatest asset: momentum.
Guaido, a 35-year-old civil engineer turned national hero, staked everything on a weekend operation to break the government’s blockade of U.S. humanitarian aid and turn Maduro’s armed forces against him. That bid largely failed, producing a trickle, but not a flood, of military defections. The opposition’s next play — a call for intervention by foreign forces — did not win immediate support in Washington.
The succession of setbacks left the opposition here scrambling Tuesday to sustain what has become the single biggest challenge to 20 years of socialist rule and manage inflated expectations of a rapid ouster of Maduro.
As opposition leaders held a flurry of phone calls and meetings Tuesday to assess their options, the most pressing question was whether Guaido would be able to re-enter Venezuela after leaving it over the weekend to lead the aid effort from Colombia and meet with regional leaders. Guaido will seek to re-enter Venezuela within the next few days, opposition officials said.
