page_title: Venezuelan presidential crisis
section_title: Guaidó swears oath as acting president
hierarchical_section_title: Venezuelan presidential crisis / 2019 events / Guaidó declared acting president / Guaidó swears oath as acting president
caption_attribution_description: English: The Vice-president of the United States Mike Pence meets with Carlos Vecchio, Julio Borges and Venezuelan gov't in exile 29 Jan. 2019
context_page_description: A crisis concerning who is the legitimate President of Venezuela has been underway since 10 January 2019, with the nation and the world divided in support for Nicolás Maduro or Juan Guaidó. The process and results of the 20 May 2018 presidential election were widely disputed. The opposition-majority National Assembly declared Maduro a "usurper" of the presidency on the day of his second inauguration and disclosed a plan to set forth its president Guaidó as the succeeding acting President of the country under article 233 of the Venezuelan Constitution. A week later, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice declared that the presidency of the National Assembly was the "usurper" of authority and declared the body to be unconstitutional.
  Minutes after Maduro took the oath as President of Venezuela, the Organization of American States approved a resolution in a special session of its Permanent Council declaring Maduro's presidency illegitimate and urging new elections. Special meetings of the OAS on 24 January and in the United Nations Security Council on 26 January were held but no consensus was reached. Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres called for dialogue.
context_section_description: On 23 January, Guaidó swore to serve as Acting President. On that morning, Guaidó tweeted, "The world's eyes are on our homeland today." On that day, millions of Venezuelans demonstrated across the country and world in support of Guaidó, with a few hundred supporting Maduro outside Miraflores. At one end of the blocked street was a stage where Guaidó spoke and took an oath to serve as interim president.
  The Venezuelan National Guard used tear gas on gathering crowds at other locations, and blocked protesters from arriving. Some protests grew violent, and at least 13 people were killed. Michelle Bachelet of the United Nations requested a UN investigation into the security forces' use of violence.
  Guaidó began to appoint individuals in late January to serve as aides or diplomats, including Carlos Vecchio as the Guaidó administration's diplomatic envoy to the US, Gustavo Tarre to the OAS, and Julio Borges to represent Venezuela in the Lima Group. He announced that the National Assembly had approved a commission to implement a plan for the reconstruction of Venezuela, called Plan País (Plan for the Country), and he offered an Amnesty law, approved by the National Assembly, for military personnel and authorities who help to "restore constitutional order". The Statute Governing the Transition to Democracy was approved by the National Assembly on 5 February.
caption: Mike Pence meets with Carlos Vecchio, Julio Borges, and other Washington-based Venezuelan representatives on 29 January 2019
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