Venezuelan authorities arrested opposition leader Freddy Guevara, an ally of Assembly President Juan Guaido, on Monday after being charged with terrorism and treason.
“Thugs of the Nicolas Maduro dictatorship arrest lawmaker Freddy Guevara,” said a tweet from the National Communication Center, Guaido’s press office, according to Bloomberg.
Guaido, recognized by the United States and other nations as Venezuela’s interim president, claimed separately he was approached by armed men threatening to arrest him earlier in the day as he left his apartment to assist Guevara, Reuters reported.
Guevara was arrested on charges of “ties with extremist groups and paramilitaries associated with the Colombian government,” according to a statement by the Venezuelan government’s chief prosecutor’s office.
The U.S. State Department announced Tuesday afternoon it “strongly condemns” the arrest of Guevara and “harassment” of Guaido in a statement on Tuesday, calling for Guevara’s “immediate release.”
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.@StateDeptSpox provides an update on developments in Cuba and Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/E4Oon653qB
— Department of State (@StateDept) July 13, 2021
“These reprehensible acts are incompatible with efforts to create conditions for comprehensive negotiations between the Venezuelan opposition and the Nicolas Maduro regime to resolve Venezuela’s crisis,” said Ned Price, State Department spokesman.
Guaido claimed to be interim president in 2019 following a presidential election widely denounced as fraudulent, but Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro controls the country’s security forces and has strong allies with Russia and China. Maduro’s government has accused Guaido of organizing a coup and assassination plots against him on several occasions.
Maduro’s government and opposition leaders were due to engage in talks over the country’s political crisis in Mexico next month, according to a July 8 report from Reuters.
Caracas was marred by three days of shootings between gangs and security forces last week, resulting in authorities killing 22 people, according to Interior Minister Carmen Melendez. Maduro claimed hours after Guevara’s arrest that a sector of right-wing groups financed attacks by armed groups against military members and residents during the violent outbreaks in Caracas.
The U.S. Justice Department announced narcoterrorism charges against Maduro on March 26 last year, with then-Attorney General William Barr stating, “While the Venezuelan people suffer, this cabal lines their pockets. And this has to come to an end.”
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The Washington Examiner contacted Venezuela’s information ministry but did not immediately receive a response.
