Chavismo persecutes opposition, hinders national agreement
Harassment of dissidents continues in Venezuela. The discreet economic openness announced by President Nicolás Maduro seems to be an episode unconnected with an alleged rapprochement with the opposition to end the political crisis. Chavismo has confirmed this in recent hours with the arrest of opposition figures Freddy Guevara and Juan Guaidó.
The partially recognised president in charge of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, denounced on Monday an attempted kidnapping at his residence in Caracas. The opposition leader detailed that the assailants were not carrying identification, and pointed out that they could belong to paramilitary forces, the FAES (Police Special Action Forces) or SEBIN (Bolivarian National Intelligence Service).
The security camera footage shows a group of armed assailants boarding Guaidó's vehicle, with him and his wife inside, and ejecting the driver. At this moment, numerous neighbours and journalists stationed in the area flocked to the entrance of the building after hearing the assault on the vehicle. The entry of several people into the complex is said to have caused the assailants to flee.
"The modus operandi of the dictatorship is very clear: persecute, torture, kidnap, censor", the opposition leader said. "There is no arrest warrant because they were only harassment, threats with long weapons, war weapons, in a residential building," Guaidó told the media. The former president of the National Assembly pointed to the guilt of Nicolás Maduro, however, opposition forces have decided to maintain the line of negotiation with the government and preserve for the time being the proposal of the so-called National Salvation Agreement, a framework to unblock the pressing political crisis.
"Today we are living hours of anguish, the siege, the persecution, the attempt to arrest the president today in the basement of my house, are signs of a dictatorship that persecutes, murders and imprisons, today they shot with long weapons in my house," Juan Guaidó's wife, Fabiana Rosales, posted on Twitter minutes after the assault. Rosales added that "while this was happening in my house, at the same time the dictatorship was kidnapping Congressman Freddy Guevara in the middle of the street".
The Venezuelan prosecutor's office last night confirmed the arrest of opposition deputy Freddy Guevara for maintaining links with "extremist and paramilitary groups associated with the Colombian government", according to prosecutor Tarek William Saab. Guevara was accused of instigating the anti-government protests that erupted in 2017 and took refuge in the Chilean embassy in the Venezuelan capital. However, the context of rapprochement between the executive and dissidents led to his pardon by presidential decree on 31 August.
Since then, the former vice-president of the National Assembly has been trying to promote a grand political agreement. However, the context in which his arrest took place fully portrays the intentions of a sector of the opposition to find a solution through dialogue with Chavism. "I decided to stay in my country despite all these problems and the possibility of being arrested again, knowing that we are in a dictatorial regime. But I am absolutely convinced that I did the right thing, that I will continue to do the right thing," Guevara explained during a live broadcast on Instagram. At that precise moment, agents stopped the vehicle in which he was travelling and detained him.
Hours later, the prosecutor revealed the reasons for the arrest. Guevara is also accused of "treason". Maduro then announced that the government has evidence implicating a sector of "the extreme right" in the fighting between criminal gangs and police in Caracas last week, which left 26 people dead.
This new persecution against dissidents in Venezuela takes place during the visit of a European Union mission to the Latin American country, as part of the observation work to ensure the correct holding of the next local and state elections scheduled for November.
Latin America Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.