Chavismo intensifies the harassment against Juan Guaidó's environment

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó hugs his wife in Caracas this Monday, after special police forces stormed their home.Ariana Cubillos / AP

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In the preamble to negotiations to end the prolonged political crisis in Venezuela, the government of Nicolás Maduro has again intensified the persecution against the opposition. This Monday, former deputy Freddy Guevara, leader of the Voluntad Popular party, accused of instigating the riots of 2017 and amnestied in August last year, was arrested, according to Juan Guaidó's wife, Fabiana Rosales, on Twitter. "The Maduro dictatorship intends to stop Congressman Freddy Guevara on the Francisco Fajardo highway." Although special forces also stormed Guaidó's home, the leader was not eventually arrested.

In parallel and in a live video on Instagram, Guevara himself denounced the harassment of hooded police officers when he was driving on the highway.

"When I decided to stay in Venezuela, I did so despite the possibility that they would arrest me again because we are in a dictatorial regime," he said in the recording.

At this time, Faes officials are in the basement of my house, hooded men with long weapons surrounding the truck where President Juan Guaidó is.

- Fabiana Rosales (@FabiiRosales) July 12, 2021

Shortly after, Rosales also denounced on his social networks the presence of FAES (Bolivarian Police Special Action Forces) agents at his home in the Venezuelan capital with the intention of arresting Guaidó, something that finally did not happen. "At this moment, FAES officials are in the basement of my house, hooded men with long weapons surrounding the truck where President Juan Guaidó is," he wrote.

After the episode and at the door of his house, Guaidó told the press that he was approached and pointed with weapons by uniformed men, while he was sheltered in the basement of the parking lot of the building where he resides.

The policemen fired shots in the air and withdrew in an official vehicle and another without identification, amid the boo of the neighbors.

"The intimidation has never stopped us," Guaidó told reporters and a small group of supporters who gathered to protest the possible arrest.

The opposition leader, who indicated that he was not detained thanks to the presence of the neighbors and the press, explained that the police officers who tried to arrest him did not have any type of identification, which is why he described the attempted arrest as a "kidnapping."

#URGENTE Maduro's dictatorship intends to arrest deputy Freddy Guevara on the Francisco Fajardo highway pic.twitter.com/7IfZdtxoLl

- Freddy Guevara (@FreddyGuevaraC) July 12, 2021

"They entered our residence without any kind of order, without any type of identification, pointing with long weapons, they set off an explosive inside the basement of our building," he said when denouncing that his driver was beaten out of the vehicle and "tied up ”.

"Freddy Guevara is kidnapped, we lost communication with him," he said about the situation of his collaborator.

Later his communications team reported that Guevara was transferred to the political prison of El Helicoide, headquarters of the Chavismo intelligence service.

Guevara was mentioned last Saturday by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who linked the Venezuelan opposition with the criminal gang of Koki, which controls neighborhoods of Cota 905, El Cementerio, La Vega and El Valle, and which kept the southwest of Caracas under capsizes during three days of intense clashes with the police. The shootings left at least 12 civilians killed by stray bullets and, according to authorities, another 22 criminals killed, and also led to the forcible displacement of many slum dwellers.

Maduro and his government have also singled out opposition leader Leopoldo López, a refugee in Spain, as part of the umpteenth plot to destabilize the regime.

"From Madrid, the management, resources and crime against the humble Venezuelan people are coordinated," said the Chavista leader, for which he instructed his foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, to report to the Executive of Pedro Sánchez.

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