Venezuela yesterday braced for another day of nationwide protests after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro clamped down further on Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaido, locking up his deputy in a military prison following a dramatic arrest.
Venezuelan National Assembly Deputy Speaker Edgar Zambrano was being held in preventive detention for “the flagrant commission of the crimes of treason, conspiracy and civil rebellion,” the Venezuelan Supreme Court said in a statement announcing the verdict of a lower court.
Zambrano was on Wednesday arrested by Maduro’s SEBIN intelligence service in dramatic circumstances for supporting the April 30 revolt organized by US-backed Guaido.
Maduro also accused his sacked intelligence chief of being a CIA “mole.”
He said Venezuelan General Christopher Figuera was “the one who orchestrated the coup d’etat” by contacting the group of about 30 members of the armed forces who joined Guaido’s mass demonstration.
“He was captured by the CIA a year ago and was working as a traitor, mole and infiltrator,” Maduro said of Figuera, whose defection to the opposition saw him rewarded by the US, which removed him from its sanctions list.
The latest regime actions ratcheted up tensions ahead of a national demonstration Guaido called for yesterday to reject measures taken by the Supreme Court against opposition lawmakers.
Zambrano is one of 10 charged by the court for participating in the April 30 movement.
He was transferred to the Caracas headquarters of the military police, Fort Tiuna, the court said.
One of the other charged lawmakers, Luis Florido, announced in a video on Friday that he had fled to neighboring Colombia, “sheltered from a regime that is willing to imprison deputies,” he said.
Three others — Richard Blanco, Mariela Magallanes and Americo De Grazia — have sought refuge in the Argentine and Italian embassies in Caracas.
Zambrano’s lawyer, Lilia Camejo, denounced the procedure under which Zambrano, a civilian, was sent to a military prison, and said his rights had been violated.
“From the moment of the arrest, they have violated the deputy’s rights. We did not have access to the file, nor could we be appointed in his defense,” Camejo told reporters.
Guaido on Thursday said that the arrests were part of a bid by Maduro to dismantle the assembly, the country’s sole opposition-controlled institution, but one which had already been rendered powerless by the pro-Maduro Supreme Court.
“If we can talk about a coup d’etat in Venezuela, here it is: the dismantling of the national parliament,” Guaido told a news conference, accusing Maduro’s regime of “state terrorism.”
The increase in repression “may be a precursor” to targeting Guaido himself, said Latin American analyst Risa Grais-Targow of Eurasia Group. “Zambrano’s arrest may be a test to gauge the response of the international community before it moves against Guaido.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese