Morocco and Germany continue to recognise Guaidó as Venezuela's interim president 

The Moroccan government continues to recognise Juan Guaidó as "provisional president" of Venezuela. The Moroccan authorities also reiterated that the way out of the crisis in the Caribbean country "is through free and democratic elections". 

This recognition was formally conveyed in a telephone call from the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Nasser Bourita, to Guaidó himself yesterday. This was made public by the Venezuelan National Assembly, chaired by Juan Guaidó, in a statement.  

Although Morocco's recognition of Guaidó is not new, as Bourita made public the Kingdom's position in June 2019. Morocco is therefore one of Guaidó's main supporters in Africa, just at a time when his international support is beginning to waver. 

The European Union itself, one of the first organisations in the world to recognise his role as the legitimate president of Venezuela, has described him as one of the opposition's "privileged and important interlocutors". 

However, opposition leader Leopoldo López, Guaidó's bloc-mate, has been received in Berlin by the German Secretary of State, Miguel Berger.  

The latter has expressed his support for the legitimate National Assembly, as well as for the interim president, Juan Guaidó. "Germany continues to support the democratic forces in Venezuela with the aim of finding a way out of the crisis through free, fair and credible presidential elections," said Berger after the meeting.  

During the meeting, López asked the Secretary of State for progress on sanctions against Venezuela, justified by the human rights violations in the country. In particular, those mentioned in the declaration of the European ministers, who last week backed the report of the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission, which lists the guilty parties within the regime.  

The opposition leader also insisted on the need to establish direct relations with Latin American countries in order to make progress on democratic demands. 

The day before, Leopoldo López had a meeting with the German Foreign Minister, Niels Anen. With him, he discussed the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, as well as the keys to achieving a political transition.  

The interim government's ambassador to Germany, Otto Gebauer, was present at both meetings, where they spoke with Sibylle Sorg, director general of the German government's Department for Stabilisation and Humanitarian Aid.  

"We shared with her the experience of the Héroes de la Salud programme. We proposed that they evaluate the possibility of supporting this programme of direct transfers to health workers. We talked about the situation of access to the vaccine and the mechanisms that could be used to guarantee its implementation and everything that could be proposed to support the humanitarian issue," says Leopoldo López.  

The agenda also included meetings with deputies from different political groups in the German Congress, with whom they exchanged details of the current Venezuelan situation. López seeks to promote a bloc of support for the opposition and to impose more sanctions on the Maduro regime.  

In the case of Morocco, in exchange for a new recognition on the figure of Guaidó, the hitherto leader of Venezuela's Constituent Assembly expressed to Bourita "his full support for the autonomy proposal in the Sahara region based on the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty", and reiterated that "Morocco's [autonomy] initiative is the only solution capable of bringing stability to the region". 

In July 2019, Morocco went so far as to receive a "special envoy" of Guaidó at its official headquarters, but did not grant him ambassadorial status. So far, the Venezuelan embassy in Rabat and its staff remain the representatives of Nicolás Maduro's government, so Morocco's support for Guaidó has not meant an official break with the Chavista regime.