Venezuela Opposition Leader Denounces Arrest Of Aides

Caracas, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Mar, 2024) Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado condemned on Wednesday the arrest of two of her staffers and accused the government of attacking her party for fear of losing July's presidential election.

Her comments came after the country's top prosecutor earlier in the day announced the arrest of two senior officials from Machado's Vente Venezuela party over an alleged anti-government conspiracy.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab said Henry Alviarez and Dignora Hernandez were plotting to "rally the masses using labor and student unions to incentivize a military wing" to lead an uprising and "generate destabilization in the country.

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Seven other Machado aides have been arrested in recent days, and warrants have been issued for several more.

The attorney general did not mention any measures against Machado herself.

"Today, as you all know, arrest warrants were issued for nine Venezuelans, most of them members of our campaign team," Machado said at a press conference in Caracas. "Two of the members of these teams were kidnapped and forcibly detained."

"Everything, absolutely everything, said by the prosecutor" was false, she added.