Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said agents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s intelligence apparatus detained his chief of staff and personal lawyer in a raid early Thursday morning.
Guaido, who is backed by the U.S. and its regional allies as interim president, sent out an early-morning alert about the “kidnapping” of Roberto Marrero on Twitter.
“To the people of Venezuela and the international community: At 2:24am, agents from the SEBIN (Maduro’s intelligence force) raided the homes of the Deputy and party chief Sergio Vergara and of my chief and lawyer Roberto Marrero. At this moment, they remain kidnapped in their homes,” Guaido said.
#ALERTA Pueblo de Venezuela y Comunidad Internacional:
Desde las 2:24 am funcionarios del SEBIN asedian las casas del Diputado y jefe de fracción de VP Sergio Vergara y el Jefe de mi Despacho, abogado Roberto Marrero.
En estos momentos los mantienen secuestrados en el sitio.— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) March 21, 2019
A follow-up tweet from Guaido said a neighbor witnessed Maduro’s forces planting two rifles and a grenade in Marrero’s home and Marrero’s whereabouts are unknown.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for Marrero’s immediate release.
“The United States condemns raids by Maduro’s security services and detention of Roberto Marrero, Chief of Staff to Interim President @jguaido. We call for his immediate release. We will hold accountable those involved,” he tweeted.
The detention by the Maduro regime is the latest example of a long and drawn out battle for power in Caracas. Venezuela has been combating nationwide power outages over the past couple of weeks, in addition to the rampant inflation that has thrown its economy in a tailspin. The U.S. has put pressure on Maduro to abdicate power by authorizing new waves of economic sanctions against the nation’s oil and precious metals industries.
