On August 28, Guaidó set up a parallel cabinet that is made up of four “presidential commissioners” on foreign relations, economic development, asset management and human rights. Leopoldo López, in charge of a government center for the articulation of the different sectors. Who’s who?

• Alejandro Plaz, Presidential Commissioner for Economic Development. He will be in charge of coordinating strategies for economic and productive recovery and combating poverty. Plaz is a representative of civil society and has collaborated with one of the main opposition leaders, María Corina Machado. In addition, he worked for more than 20 years at McKinsey & Company.

• Julio Borges, Presidential Commissioner for Foreign Affairs. He would work on the deepening of diplomatic and financial pressure on Nicolás Maduro’s administration. Borges was president of the National Assembly in 2017 and has recently undertaken several international tours asking countries in the region to adopt greater sanctions against Maduro’s government. Borges is currently in exile in Bogotá, Colombia.

• Javier Troconis, Presidential Commissioner for Asset Management. His function will be to conduct audits of the country’s assets abroad and guarantee the payment of public bonds. Troconis is a member of the ad hoc board of directors of the state oil company Citgo.

• Humberto Prado, Presidential Commissioner for Human Rights and Victim Care. He will be responsible for overseeing the compliance with human rights and coordinating international investigations of human rights violations in Venezuela. Prado is director of the NGO Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones, which assists people deprived of their liberty and documents cases of human rights violations in prisons.

• Leopoldo López, Presidential Commissioner for the Government Office. His mission will be to articulate the work of the different commissioners. López is one of the major figures of the Venezuelan opposition. Between 2015 and 2019 he was imprisoned for “public incitement to violence” in the 2014 demonstrations, according to a ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ). He is the founder of Voluntad Popular party.

Guaidó also ratified deputies Miguel Pizarro and Manuela Bolívar as coordinators of the Humanitarian Aid Commission; Juan Andrés Mejía and José Guerra as responsible for directing and addressing the “Plan País” (both of whom have been stripped of their privileges by Maduro) and Sergio Vergara and Juan José Rendón as responsible for the Strategy and Crisis Response Commission. They will also report to the Government Center.