Venezuela's pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly agreed on
Tuesday to strip Mr. Zambrano and six other lawmakers of their parliamentary
immunity to allow their future prosecution. The opposition does not recognize
the assembly's decisions.
Venezuelan intelligence agents detained opposition leader
Juan Guaido's congressional deputy on Wednesday, using a tow truck to drag his
vehicle away with him inside, prompting the U.S. government to warn of
“consequences” if he was not released.
The SEBIN intelligence agency seized Edgar Zambrano, vice
president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, which Mr. Guaido
heads, in the first arrest of a lawmaker since Mr. Guaido tried to spark a
military uprising last week to bring down President Nicolas Maduro's
government.
Venezuela's pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly agreed on
Tuesday to strip Mr. Zambrano and six other lawmakers of their parliamentary
immunity to allow their future prosecution. The opposition does not recognize
the assembly's decisions.
The Supreme Court had earlier accused those lawmakers of
conspiracy, rebellion and treason, and accused another three opposition
legislators of the same crimes on Wednesday.
The opposition says Mr. Maduro has stacked the court with
his own supporters, while the U.S. government this week threatened to sanction
all its members.
The U.S. government's Venezuelan embassy, now based in
Washington, said Mr. Zambrano's “arbitrary detention” was “illegal and
inexcusable.”
“Maduro and his accomplices are those directly responsible
for Zambrano's security. If he is not immediately freed, there will be
consequences,” the embassy said on Twitter.
An attempted uprising last week led by Mr. Guaido,
recognised by the United States and other Western countries as the rightful
head of state, failed to dislodge Mr. Maduro, as have a series of U.S.
sanctions against his government. Mr. 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.
'Kidnapped'
Mr. Zambrano said on Twitter at about 6.40 pm local time
(2240 GMT) SEBIN agents had surrounded his vehicle outside 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 Mr.
Zambrano was already at the Helicoide.
Mr. Guaido said on Twitter: “The regime has kidnapped the
first vice president.”
Mr. Guaido invoked the constitution in January to assume an
interim presidency, denouncing Mr. Maduro as illegitimate after he secured
re-election last year in a vote widely viewed as fraudulent. Mr. Maduro has
overseen the collapse of Venezuela's economy, which has shrunk by half over the
past five years, forcing more than 3 million Venezuelans to emigrate.
The Constituent Assembly removed Mr. Guaido's parliamentary
immunity in early April. Authorities have not tried to arrest him since then,
but Mr. Maduro has said he will “face justice.”
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has threatened
Maduro's government with a harsh response should it ever detain Mr. Guaido.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court's head, Maikel
Moreno, rebuffed the U.S. government's threats to sanction his court's members
if they did not reject Maduro's government and Guaido.
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Moreno and
the seven principal members of the court's constitutional chamber in 2017 for
rulings that “usurped the authority” of the National Assembly.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday the Trump
administration would soon sanction the 25 remaining members of the court. Mr.
Pence said 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, Luis
Almagro, said: “We demand the SEBIN stop the intimidation, respect the
lawmakers' parliamentary immunities, and immediately release Edgar Zambrano.”
0 Comments