The Venezuelan Prosecutor's Office accuses journalist Roland Carreño of conspiracy and terrorism

Juan Guaidó with journalist Roland Carreño.

After the escape of Leopoldo López, the most emblematic political prisoner of Chavismo, the Venezuelan Government has been primed with the journalist and popular presenter Roland Carreño, a member of the Popular Will party and a close collaborator of the politician.

The Venezuelan Prosecutor's Office has charged him with the charges of conspiracy, financing of terrorism and illicit trafficking in weapons of war.

Carreño was detained Sunday in a vehicle from which officials seized, according to their account, a rifle and $ 12,000 in cash.

Carreño was missing for 24 hours, without contact with family or lawyers, and was presented in court on Wednesday night.

The Supreme Court of Justice, controlled by Chavismo, accuses Carreño of being in charge of "making the logistics payments of terrorist groups that are trying to destabilize internal order and suspend the parliamentary elections" on December 6.

They also point to it as part of the logistics used in López's escape plan from the Spanish embassy in Caracas, where he was sheltered for 18 months.

The attorney general, Tarek William Saab, added this Wednesday that, according to documents found in the journalist's residence and on his cell phone, the militant was the financial operator of several political parties in Venezuela, of the so-called G4 (Popular Will - his— First Justice, Democratic Action and A New Time).

"One of the documents found details the distribution among four political parties of a figure of 8.5 million dollars delivered every six months by the Simón Bolívar Foundation of Citgo."

Saab refers to a foundation that provides medical aid belonging to the PDVSA subsidiary in the United States, whose assets were transferred in March 2019 to the control of the interim government of Juan Guaidó as part of the support that Washington has given to the political transition that promotes the opposition.

“Roland Carreño is the main financial operator of Voluntad Popular, a political faction that has been dedicated since 2014 to promoting violent acts such as the burning of people and institutions, the reprehensible use of minors in acts of violence in which Venezuelans have died ”Said the official, who added that in the journalism briefcase there were lists of people and routes to Colombia, indications that he had organized López's escape.

Saab had presented in June before the Supreme Court of Justice a request to declare the party founded by López as a terrorist organization, which has also been disqualified from operating since before and its board of directors was replaced at its discretion, giving its reins to leaders related to the Government , something that has also happened with other opposition parties such as Acción Democrática and Primero Justicia.

The improper procedures, the alleged evidence, the versions about what happened and even the courts that act are similar to other arrests that have been made of opponents of Nicolás Maduro, supported by the repeated narrative of the attack by an external enemy.

They are also part of the so-called "revolving door" of political prisoners in Venezuela, who have denounced human rights organizations.

In this case, patterns such as those of the arrests of Roberto Marrero, head of Guaidó's office, and of Deputy Gilber Caro, both of Popular Will, who were released among the hundred pardons granted by Maduro in August, are repeated.

The persecution and arbitrary detentions of opponents by the Government of Nicolás Maduro have been denounced in the reports of the United Nations High Commissioner and in a more recent one, prepared by the Mission to Determine the Facts.

"I am concerned about the pattern of arbitrary detentions, violations of due process, as well as allegations of torture and forced disappearances in the first days of detention," said Michelle Bachelet in July.

Regarding Carreño's case, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights demanded from the Venezuelan authorities "complete information on the whereabouts and state of health" of Carreño.

"The IACHR and its Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression consider that the situation of Roland Carreño is extremely serious and invite the international community to pay special attention to this case," the Washington-based institution stressed.

Since April 30, 2019, López has been a refugee in the Spanish Embassy in Caracas, after he managed to escape from house arrest during a failed military uprising against Maduro.

In 2014, he was jailed and a year later he was sentenced to 14 years in prison, accused of inciting violence with his speech during the day of anti-government protests that year.

He spent three years in the Ramo Verde military prison.

Last Friday he escaped from the diplomatic residence and arrived in Madrid, where he was received by Pedro Sánchez at the PSOE headquarters and had a well-attended appearance before the press.

After this, Maduro directly accused Ambassador Jesús Silva - who spends his last days in Venezuela after being relieved in September - of having facilitated the escape and negotiated the arrival of the opposition leader in Spain.

Carreño for years was a journalist for entertainment, social chronicles and fashion critic for the newspaper El Nacional.

He directed the Venezuelan editions of

and

He also had a popular television program on the Globovisión channel, when it was critical of the Government.

Very close to López and his family, since 2009 he was linked to the foundation and activism in Voluntad Popular.