Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has defied a travel ban to head to Colombia, where he met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as he seeks to boost support amid a power struggle with President Nicolas Maduro.
Recognised as Venezuela's legitimate president by more than 50 countries, including the United States, Guaido had not left the country since February 2019, when he also defied the court-imposed ban to travel to Colombia.
Maduro accuses Guaido of being a coup-mongering puppet controlled by the White House.
Pompeo, who was in the Colombian capital, Bogota on Monday at the start of a Latin American tour, said Guaido was "the duly elected leader of Venezuela".
Guaido then travelled from Colombia to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he urged European officials to increase pressure on Maduro.
Guaido has been barred from leaving Venezuela since proclaiming himself acting president a year ago and declared Maduro a "usurper" who had secured re-election in a 2018 vote widely considered fraudulent.
Maduro, however, remains in power, backed by the military as well as Russia, China and Cuba and accuses the opposition of stirring up violence.
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