CARACAS: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Wednesday that intelligence agents had detained his deputy, the first arrest of a lawmaker since Guaido tried to spark a military uprising last week to bring down President Nicolas Maduro’s government.
Edgar Zambrano, vice president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, which Guaido heads, said on Twitter that agents from the SEBIN intelligence agency were using a tow truck to drag his vehicle, with him inside, to one of their Caracas bases.
On Tuesday, Venezuela’s pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly agreed to strip Zambrano, and six other lawmakers, of their parliamentary immunity to allow their future prosecution.
The Supreme Court had earlier accused the lawmakers of conspiracy, rebellion and treason, and on Wednesday accused three other opposition legislators of the same crimes. The opposition says Maduro has stacked the court with his own supporters and does not recognize its legitimacy, while the US government this week threatened to sanction all its members.
An attempted uprising last week led by Guaido, recognized as the rightful head of state by the United States and other Western countries, failed to dislodge Maduro, as have a series of US sanctions against his government. Maduro decried the events as an attempted coup.
“One of the principal conspirators of the coup has just been arrested,” Diosdado Cabello, head of the Constituent Assembly, said in comments broadcast on state television. “They will have to pay before the courts for the failed coup that they attempted,” he said.
Zambrano said on Twitter that SEBIN agents had surrounded his vehicle by the headquarters of his Democratic Action party in Caracas’ La Florida district.
“We were surprised by the SEBIN, and after refusing to let us leave our vehicle, they used a tow truck to forcibly transfer us directly to the (SEBIN headquarters) Helicoide,” he said. It was not yet clear if Zambrano was already at the Helicoide.
“The regime has kidnapped the first vice president,” Guaido said on Twitter.
Guaido in January invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, denouncing Maduro as illegitimate after he secured re-election last year in a vote widely viewed as fraudulent. Maduro has overseen the collapse of Venezuela’s economy, which has shrunk by half over the past five years, forcing over 3 million Venezuelans to emigrate.
The Constituent Assembly removed Guaido’s parliamentary immunity in early April, but authorities have not tried to arrest him since then though Maduro has said he will “face justice.” The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened Maduro’s government with a harsh response should it ever detain Guaido.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court’s head, Maikel Moreno, rebuffed the US government’s threats to sanction his court’s members if they did not reject Maduro’s government and Guaido.
The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions in 2017 on Moreno and the seven principal members of the court’s constitutional chamber for rulings that “usurped the authority” of the National Assembly.
US Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday the Trump administration would soon sanction the 25 remaining members of the court. Pence said on Tuesday that the United States was lifting economic sanctions on a former Venezuelan general who turned against Maduro in order to encourage other Maduro allies to follow suit.
The head of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, said: “We demand the SEBIN stop the intimidation, respect the lawmakers’ parliamentary immunities, and immediately released Edgar Zambrano.”
Deputy of Venezuela’s Guaido arrested and dragged away by tow truck
Deputy of Venezuela’s Guaido arrested and dragged away by tow truck
- An attempted uprising last week led by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido failed to dislodge President Nicolas Maduro
- Venezuela’s pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly on Tuesday stripped Guaido's deputy and six other lawmakers of their parliamentary immunity to allow their future prosecution
North Korean leader Kim watches cruise missile tests with his daughter
- KCNA said the missiles hit target islands off North Korea’s west coast
SEOUL, South Korea: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his teenage daughter observed tests of strategic cruise missiles fired from a warship, state media reported Wednesday, as North Korea threatened responses to US-South Korean military drills.
Images sent by the Korean Central News Agency showed the two in a conference room looking at a screen showing weapons being fired from the Choe Hyon, a year-old naval destroyer.
Kim Jong Un watched the missiles launches via video on Tuesday and underscored the need to maintain “a powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent,” KCNA reported in a dispatch that did not mention his daughter.
The girl, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and about 13, has accompanied her father at numerous prominent events including military parades and weapons launches since late 2022. South Korea’s spy agency assessed last month Kim Jong Un was close to designating her as his heir.
KCNA said the missiles hit target islands off North Korea’s west coast. It quoted Kim Jong Un as saying the launches were meant to demonstrate the navy’s strategic offensive posture and get troops familiarized with weapons firings.
Kim Jong Un observed similar cruise missile launches from the Choe Hyon in person last week, but his daughter was not seen at that appearance.
Tuesday’s missile firings came after the start of the springtime US-South Korean military drills that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
On Tuesday, Kim Jong Un’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, warned the drills reveal again the US and South Korea’s “inveterate repugnancy toward” North Korea. She said North Korea will “convince the enemies of our war deterrence.”
The 11-day Freedom Shield drill that began Monday is largely a computer-simulated command post exercise and will be accompanied by a field training program. North Korea often reacts to the two sets of training with its own weapons tests.
