As Maduro controls the military and nearly every government institution, Guaidó has only been able to appoint ambassadors to friendly countries. The Venezuelan constitution allows for the National Assembly, the top legislative body, to swear in an interim president tasked with convening a free and fair election as rapidly as possible in the event of a “rupture in the democratic order.” Lawmakers defined the 2018 presidential election as such and formally inaugurated Guaidó in January 2019.ĭespite being the legitimate president of the country, Guaidó has exercised none of his technical presidential powers. Juan Guaidó, a former lawmaker under the socialist Popular Will party banner, became the legal president of Venezuela in 2019 after Maduro’s sham presidential elections a year before. The White House did not offer any clear explanation for why Guaidó did not receive an invite. The event happened in northern Cojedes state just days after Guaidó endured the indignity of not being invited to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, a decision President Joe Biden took after declaring weeks ago that, as it is not the legitimate government of the country, the socialist regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro would also not be invited to the event.