Venezuelan opposition leader's wife emerges as potent force

With her youthful energy and globe-trotting, the 26-year-old wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is emerging as a prominent figure in his campaign to bring change to the crisis-wracked country.

Fabiana Rosales' age and informal dress, often jeans, while touring Latin America belie an inner toughness and maturity cultivated with her activist husband during violent street protests in Venezuela's capital. Her husband has since claimed Venezuela's interim presidency with the support of dozens of nations including the United States, setting up a standoff with President Nicolas Maduro, who refuses to step down amid what he calls an attempted coup.

"Look, I am the wife of President Juan Guaido and I will accompany him on whatever route he takes and we will overcome whatever obstacles we face as we have done through all our years together," Rosales said during an interview in Peru's capital of Lima. "But I got involved in politics because I want to change my country."

Fabiana Rosales, left, wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, speaks to reporters before attending Mass at St. Teresa's Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Tuesday, March 26, 2019, in New York. Rosales is emerging as a prominent figure in Guaido's campaign to bring change in the crisis-wracked country. (AP PhotoMary Altaffer)

"I don't want my daughter to grow up wanting to leave Venezuela," she said, a reference to the roughly 3 million Venezuelans who have fled their country amid a collapsing economy, hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicines, and now blackouts.

As her husband leads efforts to remove Maduro through protests at home and by trying to persuade Venezuela's military to abandon the socialist leader, Rosales is trying to drum up international support for Venezuela's beleaguered opposition with highly publicized tours of neighboring countries.

This month she traveled to Peru and Chile, where she met with the presidents of both countries, and spoke in universities about Venezuela's humanitarian crisis. On Wednesday, Rosales heads to the White House, where she will meet with Vice President Mike Pence, as the U.S. ratchets up sanctions on the Maduro administration.

Fabiana Rosales, wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, smiles as she is introduced to members of the Venezuelan community in New York after attending Mass at St. Teresa's Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Tuesday, March 26, 2019. Rosales is emerging as a prominent figure in Guaido's campaign to bring change in the crisis-wracked country. (AP PhotoMary Altaffer)

Rosales met her husband at a youth rally for Voluntad Popular, an opposition party she has worked with since her university years. She has become a household name in Venezuela in recent months, standing at her husband's side in rallies attended by thousands. Recently, she has also taken on the role of international ambassador for Venezuela's opposition, as her husband becomes bogged down in domestic affairs.

Venezuela's first lady in waiting has helped her husband look more presidential, says Dimitris Pantoulas, a Caracas-based political analyst.

"She is a professional, young, educated woman, and to a certain extent she is conservative," Pantoulas said. "That image corresponds to (Venezuelan) stereotypes of what a presidential couple should look like, especially for those in the middle classes."

Fabiana Rosales, wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, speaks to members of the Venezuelan community in New York after attending Mass at St. Teresa's Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Tuesday, March 26, 2019. Rosales is emerging as a prominent figure in Guaido's campaign to bring change in the crisis-wracked country. (AP PhotoMary Altaffer)

In the interview, Rosales say that her "most important role is to be a mother, and I'm also a sister and wife."

Guaido declared himself Venezuela's interim president in late January. The opposition leader was serving as the president of Venezuela's Congress, and said the constitution allowed him to form a transitional government because Maduro had been re-elected in a sham vote last year.

The political challenge turned Guaido into an instant target of the Maduro administration, which blamed him of organizing violent protests and quickly put him under a travel ban.

Fabiana Rosales, second from right, wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, speaks to members of the Venezuelan community in New York after attending Mass at St. Teresa's Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Tuesday, March 26, 2019. Rosales is emerging as a prominent figure in Guaido's campaign to bring change in the crisis-wracked country. (AP PhotoMary Altaffer)

Guaido snuck out of Venezuela for a one week tour of South America, in which he led a failed effort to move several tons of food and medicine into the country. But upon returning he has focused most of his energy on sustaining his movement, which has lost some of its momentum, as Maduro remains in power and Venezuelans focus on the difficult task of surviving.

In her recent trips abroad, Rosales has met with large crowds of Venezuelan migrants, urging them to keep their faith in her husband and telling regional leaders that "a dictator" like Maduro does not fall in a matter of days. She says the Venezuelan opposition is making progress, designating ambassadors around the world, and recovering control of Venezuelan oil assets abroad with the help of the United States.

Rosales' opponents have cast her recent tour as a desperate attempt to keep Guaido in the international spotlight, as the Venezuelan crisis drags on and the world's attention moves elsewhere.

Fabiana Rosales, second from left, wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, celebrates Mass with Guaido supporter and activist Erick Rozo, left, at St. Teresa's Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Tuesday, March 26, 2019, in New York. Rosales is emerging as a prominent figure in Guaido's campaign to bring change in the crisis-wracked country. (AP PhotoMary Altaffer)

"She is trying to boost Guaido's image, as support for his movement in Venezuela deflates," Arevalo Mendez, Maduro's ambassador to Chile, told a local news outlet last week.

The daughter of a journalist and a farmer from the rural state of Merida, Rosales says she became interested in social issues early as she accompanied her mother to interviews.

She decided to follow in her mother's footsteps and study journalism, but also helped her father transport his crops to Caracas along roads where he was sometimes shaken down by corrupt military guards.

Fabiana Rosales, center, wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, and Guaido supporter and activist Erick Rozo, left, pray while celebrating Mass at St. Teresa's Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Tuesday, March 26, 2019, in New York. Rosales is emerging as a prominent figure in Guaido's campaign to bring change in the crisis-wracked country. (AP PhotoMary Altaffer)

Rosales says she has gone through many of the travails currently faced by Venezuelans, including the harrowing medicine shortages.

Her father died in 2013, after suffering a heart attack. He could have survived Rosales said, but there was no medicine in his village to stabilize him, and no ambulance to take him to the nearest hospital.

"I spent a lot of time in pain, wondering why this had happened to me," she said. "But now I have taken this as a lesson from life. And I am working for my daughter to inherit a better country."

Fabiana Rosales, left, wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, hugs Aminta Perez, mother of Venezuelan police Officer Oscar Perez, while celebrating Mass at St. Teresa's Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Tuesday, March 26, 2019, in New York. Rosales is emerging as a prominent figure in Guaido's campaign to bring change in the crisis-wracked country. (AP PhotoMary Altaffer)

Fabiana Rosales, second from right, wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, and Aminta Perez, third from right, mother of Venezuelan police Officer Oscar Perez, pose for a photo with members of the Venezuelan community in New York after attending Mass at St. Teresa's Church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Tuesday, March 26, 2019. Rosales is emerging as a prominent figure in Guaido's campaign to bring change in the crisis-wracked country. (AP PhotoMary Altaffer)

BEIJING (AP) — Breaking with the United States, Canada has agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.

Carney made the announcement after two days of meetings with Chinese leaders. He said there would be an initial cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports to Canada, growing to 70,000 over five years. China will reduce its tariff on canola seeds, a major Canadian export, from about 84% to about 15%, he told reporters.

“It has been a historic and productive two days,” Carney said, speaking outside against the backdrop of a traditional pavilion and a frozen pond at a Beijing park. “We have to understand the differences between Canada and other countries, and focus our efforts to work together where we’re aligned.”

Earlier Friday, he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to improve relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.

Xi told Carney in a meeting at the Great Hall of the People that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.

“It can be said that our meeting last year opened a new chapter in turning China–Canada relations toward improvement,” China's top leader said.

Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, said better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as “under great strain.”

He called for a new relationship “adapted to new global realities” and cooperation in agriculture, energy and finance.

Those new realities reflect in large part the so-called America-first approach of U.S. President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies. Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the U.S. at what he called “a time of global trade disruption.”

A Canadian business owner in China called Carney's visit game-changing, saying it re-establishes dialogue, respect and a framework between the two nations.

“These three things we didn’t have,” said Jacob Cooke, the CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, which helps exporters navigate the Chinese market. “The parties were not talking for years.”

Canada had followed the U.S. in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor.

China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said. Overall, China's imports from Canada fell 10.4% last year to $41.7 billion, according to Chinese trade data.

China is hoping Trump’s pressure tactics on allies such as Canada will drive them to pursue a foreign policy that is less aligned with the United States. The U.S. president has suggested Canada could become America's 51st state.

Carney departs China on Saturday and visits Qatar on Sunday before attending the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week. He will meet business leaders and investors in Qatar to promote trade and investment, his office said.

Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaks to the media at Ritan Park in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, leaves after speaking to the media at Ritan Park in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, centre, reacts during a meeting with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney (not in the picture), at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaks to the media at Ritan Park in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, center, arrives to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)