Venezuela Arrests Machado Allies as Tensions Flare Ahead of Vote

Andreina Itriago Acosta
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela arrested three aides to opposition candidate María Corina Machado as the government increases pressure on its critics ahead of presidential elections.

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Provincial leaders Juan Freites, Guillermo López and Luis Camacaro were detained for their alleged involvement in a recent plot to kill President Nicolás Maduro, Public Prosecutor Tarek William Saab said Friday. Machado had reported them missing since Tuesday.

Maduro has been taking an increasingly harder line as he prepares for another presidential campaign. On Thursday, one of his top allies confirmed he would be the ruling socialist party’s candidate in a bid for a third consecutive six-year term.

Machado — whose popularity in recent polls is twice as high as Maduro’s — is barred from running for public office and is awaiting a judicial decision on the matter. The Supreme Court said Friday it would release rulings in electoral disqualification cases throughout the afternoon.

The US has expressed concern with the Maduro government’s latest moves against the opposition and civil society, which come just a few months after the regime struck a deal aimed at creating conditions for a fairer vote in the second half of the year. After the so-called Barbados agreement was signed, the Biden administration announced a temporary easing of sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector and other key industries.

Maduro said the agreement was “mortally wounded” after the revelation of five conspiracy plots against him beginning in May 2023. Describing his government’s post-Barbados relations with the opposition as “in intensive care,” the president added: “I hope we can save them.”

The Venezuelan government has arrested dozens of people allegedly involved in the plots, including a group of military officers, and issued arrest warrants for dozens more, including journalists and activists.

In early December, Maduro targeted three other aides to Machado, whose arrests warrants were suspended a few weeks later in the blockbuster prisoner swap between Maduro and the Biden administration.

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