WASHINGTON – The head of the United States diplomacy, Marco Blond, on Friday expressed concern about the arrest of an important leader opponent in Venezuela, Juan Pablo Guanipa, and denounced a “new repressive wave” prior to the elections of Governors and Deputies on Sunday.
The Secretary of State described as “unjustified and arbitrary” the arrest of Guanipa, a close collaborator of the opposition leader María Corina Machado, as well as that of 70 people, according to a statement from the State Department.
Rubio said that the United States will not cease in his support for the struggle of Venezuelans for democracy and the safe return of all Americans detained unfairly.
The arrest of Guanipa is produced in a context of growing political violence in which the Venezuelan opposition has repeatedly denounced the detention and the “harassment” of political and social leaders-in the words of the former opposition former opponent Edmundo González-in order to silence “those who affect public opinion.”
Underground
The opposition leader was arrested this Friday by the repressive bodies of the Chavista regime after being linked to an alleged “conspiracy” against the next election of governors and deputies to Parliament.
Guanipa, 60, was in hiding since July. In a press conference offered this Friday, the current Interior Minister and number two of ChavismoDiosdado Cabello, confirmed the arrest of the opponent leader Juan Pablo Guanipa, the main ally of María Corina Machado, whom he accused of being “one of the bosses” of the alleged terrorist group that has dismantled the ruling dome in the framework of this new common process, rejected by the democratic opposition.
Cabello, for whom the United States offers a reward of 25 million dollars for information that leads to its arrest, showed images in which Guanipa Esposado is seen, with a bulletproof vest and escorted by hooded police officers and black dresses.
“He is one of the bosses of this terrorist network,” said Cabello, pointed out to be the head of the Soles Cartel, at a press conference with state media. “Four phones were captured, in addition to a laptop. There is the whole plan,” according to the second lead of Chavismo.
He was charged with the crimes of terrorism, money laundering and incitement to violence and hate. “From now on what touches him is to account for justice,” Cabello settled.
“State terrorism”
Guanipa came out of clandestinity to participate in opposition manifestations. It appeared for the last time in public with crushing in a protest in Caracas on January 9 against the investiture of President Nicolás Maduro for his questioned third term.
The opposition continues with the complaint that Maduro stole the result of the presidential elections of July 2024. Machado, in fact, called not to participate in Sunday’s elections as part of this claim.
A message appeared shortly after published in the Guanipa account in X: “If they are reading this it is because I have been kidnapped by the forces of the Nicolás Maduro regime.”
“I am not sure what will happen to me in the next few hours, days and weeks. But what I am sure of is that we will win the long fight against the dictatorship,” he added in the text.
Machado also reacted on the social network: “This is pure and hard state terrorism,” he wrote. “Guanipa is a brave and full man. He is my partner and my brother.”
