Venezuela's Juan Guaido Returns Home, Calls For More Protests
NICK WATT, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): One billion yen: that's the bail finally set for the former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn after three months in jail. It looks like he is getting out soon. A hero's winner for Juan Guaido back in Venezuela and piling more pressure on Nicolas Maduro.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Unfortunately, fate chose something else for this child to be kidnapped and then find herself today in a war zone.</s>WATSON (voice-over): The orphans left behind by ISIS in Syria. France gets ready to welcome the children from former citizens who joined the terror group.</s>WATT: Welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Nick Watt. This is CNN NEWSROOM.</s>WATT: Carlos Ghosn, the former head of Nissan and a titan of the auto industry, could soon get his first taste of freedom in more than three months. A court in Tokyo has granted him bail set at almost $9 million U.S. Ghosn has been in custody since late November, charged with financial misconduct for allegedly underreporting his salary for nearly a decade. Prosecutors are appealing the bail decision. Journalist Kaori Enjoji is following this from Tokyo. What is the latest?</s>KAORI ENJOJI, JOURNALIST: We're waiting to see what the court will say to the filing by the prosecutors here in Japan, who clearly do not want to see Carlos Ghosn come out of his detention center. We're waiting to see whether the Tokyo district court will uphold their decision made earlier in the day to grant Ghosn bail on a certain number of conditions, that he stays in Japan while on bail And as his lawyer pointed out, so that he has limited access to the public and that there might be some camera surveillance around him, should he be granted bail. But this is a dramatic turn of events after more than 100 days in a detention cell in solitary confinement. One of the titans of the auto industry could be released today. So we're still not 100 percent sure whether bail will be granted but the expectations are running high that he may be later on tonight.</s>WATT: I hear that his lawyers are getting the U.N. involved, alleging that he has been somehow maltreated, his human rights have been trampled on while he has been in custody.</s>ENJOJI: Ever since Ghosn was arrested in late November, this has been a big case with the allegations of misappropriated use of company funds or breach of trust as well as the whole Japanese judicial system has come under the microscope. This is the narrative that his new legal team is trying to push. This is a fairly new legal team that Ghosn has hired here in Japan. He is very well-known, almost notorious for getting previously convicted criminals overturned, acquitted all the way up to the supreme court. He had a news conference yesterday and it was fairly clear that he wanted to put the judicial system here in Japan under the spotlight. Listen to what he had to say.</s>JUNICHIRO HIRONAKA, CARLOS GHOSN'S LAWYER (through translator): The detention system in Japan is also known as hostage justice, which means one remains in a detention center as punishment until one confesses as the prosecutor requests. The system has been criticized all over the world. We would like to appeal against the situation and have the bail approved as soon as possible.</s>ENJOJI: There is also a lawyer in a legal team in France and also the United States and the legal team in France filed some paperwork yesterday in Paris. And they outlined that they are putting this case to the attention of the United Nations, the human rights committee there. They outlined certain things that they felt should be examined in terms of human rights abuse. At that press conference Ghosn's lawyers in France says, as some examples, the fact that he has been in solitary confinement for more than 100 days, that they feel he is a danger to the other prisoners and their argument is that Ghosn doesn't even speak Japanese, how would he be able to communicate with the other prisoners? The fact that he has limited access to his legal team has come under the spotlight as well. All of these things are likely to come into focus. And bear in mind that Nissan has had something to say. Nissan continues to say -- and the latest comment from them is that Ghosn, while he was supervising both Nissan and Renault, engaged in unethical --</s>ENJOJI: -- behavior. They maintain that stance. But I think you also have to remember that his legal team is starting to question whether or not the Japanese government itself may have had some kind of hand in these developments. Bear in mind, of course, that Renault, which is a big shareholder in Nissan, and the French government is a big stakeholder in Renault as well. So this is not only a case of a fallen titan, an icon of industry, a story about the Japanese judicial system and perhaps possibly about industries surrounding both France and Japan for those two nations.</s>WATT: Kaori Enjoji in Tokyo, thank you very much for your time. Meanwhile opposition leader Juan Guaido is back in Venezuela, defying the threat of arrest and calling for mass protests this Saturday against President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido has spent the past 10 days on a regional road trip, shoring up support for his self-declared presidency. CNN's Patrick Oppmann is in Caracas.</s>PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was the image Juan Guaido wanted Venezuela and the world to see, the self-declared interim president's triumphant return. But getting into Venezuela required more twists and turns than a Hollywood thriller. Guaido left last month for a tour of nations to support his claim as leader of Venezuela by walking across the border to Colombia. He returned on a commercial flight from Panama on Monday, daring the government of Nicolas Maduro to do their worst.</s>OPPMANN: Juan Guaido said he will return to Venezuela and now he has, once again defying the government here. He told Maduro that, if he were arrested, it would be the last mistake he would ever make. But by all indications, the military still very much backs Maduro so any possible change of government is still a long way off.</s>OPPMANN (voice-over): Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, showered the military with money and housings, even allegedly allowed some generals to engage in drug trafficking, all to keep them loyal, loyalty that Guaido claims is now fading. "And we know 80 percent of the armed forces are in favor of the change," he says. "We know this. They have communicated with us. They have spoken to us. "Why do you think we are here today? "Now, the time is now. There is no more for now. It's now when we need change in Venezuela." Once again, Juan Guaido has outsmarted Maduro's regime but it remains to be seen if he can outlast them -- Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Caracas.</s>WATT: Let's take a closer look at all this with Eric Farnsworth, he is the vice president of the Council of the Americas. Eric, we just heard in Patrick's report how Nicolas Maduro got the military on side. The military obviously key here. What does Guaido have to do to win their support? Can he win their support?</s>ERIC FARNSWORTH, VICE PRESIDENT, COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS AND AMERICAS SOCIETY: Well, Nick, thanks for having me on. You know, this is the open question the military and the security forces remain the arbiter in Venezuela of whether Guaido can ultimately ascend to the Miraflores Palace and if Mr. Maduro will be eased off into the sunset. And at this point, there's a full court press underway to try to get elements of the military to transfer their loyalty to Mr. Guaido. Any number have already done that, several hundred, up to 600 I think were last estimates. But in the scheme of things that's not a quorum, that's not enough. And so the efforts have to continue. The truth to the matter is most of the military and security forces if one can believe the reports out of Venezuela are not remaining loyal to Maduro because they like him or have a great deal of affection for him or believe in his governance program but rather out of fear. They're afraid that if they turn, they'll be subject to sanction, certainly they'll lose their jobs, they lose their pensions, they lose access to food and they may indeed lose their lives and their families will also be subject to persecution. So, there's a big fear factor there and Mr. Guaido --</s>FARNSWORTH: -- have to show that if they throw their support behind him that indeed he and more importantly the international community will have their backs.</s>WATT: I mean, Guaido almost has to prove to them that he can take power, he will take power and then they might join him.</s>FARNSWORTH: That is the critical point in my view. You're absolutely right. If there's a sense that at the end of this Guaido will remain out of power then why would the military make that move? You know and this is a bunch of individual decisions, too. Everybody is going to have to game this out based on their own circumstances, but they want to throw in their lot with the person who they think is most likely to remain in power. So there has to be the sense that at the end of o the day, Guaido will in fact be the leader of the country.</s>WATT: And I do want to play just a little bit of sound from Guaido from today after he returned to Venezuela. Let's take a listen to this.</s>GUAIDO (through translator): Even if he puts on a flag costume because it's carnival season he is not the president. The interim president of the Republic of Venezuela is right here.</s>WATT: So how is Maduro going to react to this. I mean, Guaido is almost said, listen, it would be a big mistake if you arrest me? What is Maduro going to do?</s>FARNSWORTH: Well, I think they are trying to figure that out right now. You know, there was a lot of speculation that Juan Guaido arrived at Maiquetia, which is the airport outside of Caracas that he'd either by arrested or somehow not let into the country, something like that. In fact, he arrived and there were crowds that greeted him and he was allowed into the country. There seems to be some confusion or some difference of opinion in Maduro's regime in terms of what to do with Guaido. I think that will play out over the next couple of days. There's no question about that. That's something we're going to have to watch very carefully.</s>WATT: And Eric, Guaido has called for mass protests on Saturday. Will that be a key indicator of how this is going to go when we see just how many people turn out on the streets?</s>FARNSWORTH: Yes. Each step toward the ultimate goal I think is important. I think many in the international community thought perhaps that February 23 the last protest, the aid caravan, if you will, would be the final straw for Maduro to get him out of this country. I never thought that that would necessarily be the case. I mean, this is a step by step process. You'll never know which will be the final straw that breaks the camel's back. Each one is important. But the key is going to be and continuous to be that the Guaido and the interim government maintain momentum, maintain pressure on Maduro because if that pressure is reduced somehow, Maduro is able to stay in office for a long time. And so, we'll know a lot about that in terms of can they maintain the momentum based on as you rightly suggest the number of people that come out in the country to protest and not just the numbers but also the geographic distribution. Where are they? Are they in just Caracas, are they outside, are they in opposition-dominated areas, are they, is it broad-based? We'll know more a lot based on that.</s>WATT: And I'm going to put you on the spot finally, Eric. This is a one-word answer. A year from now who is going to be in power, Guaido, Maduro, or somebody else?</s>FARNSWORTH: Well, I think Guaido will still be the interim president whether or not he's in power I think is an open question.</s>WATT: Eric Farnsworth, thank you so much for your time.</s>FARNSWORTH: Thank you.</s>WATT: U.S. Democrats are launching investigations and they've got questions about pretty much every aspect of President Trump's life. What they're looking at -- just ahead. Plus:</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): This is my only battle and I will not give up, it's for this child. So please, be human. He shouldn't be out there and he is all I have left of my daughter. We have to save this little thing.</s>WATSON (voice-over): Anguished families begging for kids to be brought home from Syria. How France is treating the orphans of its citizens who joined ISIS. That's coming up.