Venezuela’s chief justice on Monday asked lawmakers to strip opposition leader Juan Guaido of immunity, taking a step toward prosecuting him for alleged crimes as he seeks to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Guaido should be prosecuted for breaching a ban on leaving the country when he went on a tour of Latin American nations that back a change in Venezuela’s government, Venezuelan Supreme Court Justice Maikel Moreno said.
The opposition leader is also accused of inciting violence linked to street protests and receiving illicit funds from abroad.
Photo: AP
It was unclear when the pro-Maduro Venezuelan National Constituent Assembly would consider whether to remove Guaido’s immunity from prosecution as president of the Venezuelan National Assembly.
Guaido dismissed the Maduro ally-stacked high court and Constituent Assembly as illegitimate and continued his calls for Maduro to step down.
“We must unite now more than ever,” Guaido said at a Caracas university earlier on Monday. “We must mount the biggest demonstration so far to reject what’s happening.”
Venezuelan security forces have detained Guaido’s chief of staff, but had yet to move directly against the opposition leader, whose claim to be interim president is backed by dozens of countries that have said Maduro’s re-election last year was rigged.
Since a massive power failure struck on March 7, the nation has experienced near-daily blackouts and a breakdown in critical services such as running water and public transportation. Classes have been suspended for nearly a week.
At the same time, frustrated residents are increasingly unable to find water, make telephone calls or access the Internet.
Millions of Venezuelans have struggled to understand an announcement by Maduro that the nation’s electricity is to be rationed to combat daily blackouts.
Maduro late on Sunday said that he was instituting a 30-day plan that would balance generation and transmission with consumption.
He also called on Venezuelans to stay calm, but provided few details.
Maduro on Monday appeared on state TV to announce that an engineer with 25 years of experience, Igor Gaviria, would serve as the next electricity minister, heading state-run Corpoelec.
Gaviria is to replace a military general, Luis Motta Dominguez.
“I’ve lost him to a period of rest,” Maduro said, adding that students would return to class today.
Maduro has blamed the blackouts on US-directed sabotage, an allegation that Guaido routinely dismisses as the desperate talk of a government that has presided over the collapse of infrastructure in a country which was once among the wealthiest in Latin America.
As the lack of electricity became the latest sticking point in an ongoing political standoff, many Venezuelans simply found themselves wondering what the newly announced rationing plan would entail.
With few details, it was difficult to assess how effective the plan would be in restoring a consistent supply of power in the long term.
Some electricity experts have said that there are no quick fixes to Venezuela’s fragile power grid, presenting the prospect that electricity could be shaky and unreliable for the foreseeable future.
US officials in Washington on Monday said that they would do “everything possible” so that a Guaido representative can fill Venezuela’s seat in the Organization of American States (OAS).
US Ambassador to the OAS Carlos Trujillo was optimistic about the possibility that Gustavo Tarre would take Venezuela’s seat by gaining enough votes.
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