MAIQUETIA: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido arrived at Caracas` airport on Monday after flouting a court-imposed travel ban by touring Latin American countries to boost support for his campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

A crowd of cheering supporters swarmed Guaido and his wife as they stepped into Maiquetia international airport`s arrivals hall.

He then climbed onto a car roof and gave the thumbs up to people clustered in the road outside before leaving for Caracas where several thousand supporters had gathered to welcome him.

Guaido had vowed to return to lead protests on Monday and Tuesday during the Carnival holiday period. He kept details of his trip under wraps and he arrived without prior notice, meeting ambassadors for European countries at the airport, according to witnesses.

`Back in our beloved country! Venezuela, we justpassed through immigration and we will now head to where our people are,` he said on Twitter just after arriving.

His return could become the next flashpoint in his duel with Maduro as he seeks to keep up momentum and spur his international backers to further isolate the socialist government. Most Western countries recognise Guaido as Venezuela`s legitimate headof state.

His possible arrest could allow the opposition to highlight how the Maduro administration represses political foes, and prompt the United States to impose even harsher sanctions. But it could also strip the opposidonofapubhchgurehead who has brought unity af ter years of infighting.

Guaido secretly left Venezuela for Colombia, in violation of a SupremeCourt order, to coordinate efforts there on Feb 23 to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela to alleviate widespread shortages of food and medicine. But troops blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that killed at least six people along the Brazilian border, rights groups say.

Maduro, who has called Guaido a coup-mongering US puppet and denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, has said his arrest depends on the justice system. `He can`t just come and go. He will have to f ace justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country,` he told ABC News last week.

After the military blocked the aid convoys, Guaido proposed that `all options be kept open` to topple Maduro, but foreign military intervention is seen as unlikely and his international backers are instead using a mix of sanctions and diplomacy.-ReutersCourt order, to coordinate efforts there on Feb 23 to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela to alleviate widespread shortages of food and medicine. But troops blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that killed at least six people along the Brazilian border, rights groups say.

Maduro, who has called Guaido a coup-mongering US puppet and denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, has said his arrest depends on the justice system. `He can`t just come and go. He will have to f ace justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country,` he told ABC News last week.

After the military blocked the aid convoys, Guaido proposed that `all options be kept open` to topple Maduro, but foreign military intervention is seen as unlikely and his international backers are instead using a mix of sanctions and diplomacy.-Reuters