Ugandan politician Bobi Wine has triggered polarising views on Twitter after his confirmation of a virtual meeting with Juan Guaidó of Venezuela on Wednesday (March 3).

The reggae artiste-turned-politician, born Robert Kyagulanyi, said he was “very pleased” with his Zoom meeting with Guaidó and gave a summary of what was discussed.

“Very pleased to speak with President @jguaido of Venezuela this evening. We discussed the way forward for both countries, and the need to build synergies for the defence of democratic principles and human rights across the globe,” Bobi Wine wrote.

The tweet has sparked a fierce debate as to Kyagulanyi’s true intent, as some view his alignment with Guaidó as a political ploy being spurred on by the United States and Western interests—which supports both leaders despite neither being able to secure an outright majority in respective elections.

While scores of Ugandan Twitter users call Bobi Wine the country’s ‘real president’, many more question what could have been achieved in such a meeting with Guaidó.

Others have outright withdrawn their support of Bobi Wine, calling the opposition leader a political puppet.

“This reeks of naïveté,” was the simple response from one Twitter user.

“The government of Uganda has accused the US of intervention there, the US has actually expressed displeasure with the recent elections, and the US ambassador tried to meet with Bobi Wine and was only stopped by the Ugandan gov’t,” another observer commented, adding “Now this is no praise to Museveni. This isn’t the first time the US has used and is now ready to dispose and replace an asset. The US has propped up dictators to do their bidding before and then discarded them in favour of more useful tools afterwards.

Guaidó continues to be pushed by the US government as the only recognised leader of Venezuela, even as the European Union (which once supported him but withdrew in January 2021) and United Nations (UN) cite Maduro as president.

Earlier in January, the Government of Uganda accused US ambassador Natalie Brown of seeking to subvert the December 2020 presidential election by trying to visit the main opposition candidate at his home, which has been surrounded by security forces since the vote.

Troops prevented pop star-turned-legislator Bobi Wine from leaving his house shortly after he returned from voting in the presidential election, in which he ran against incumbent Yoweri Museveni.