Star Metro - International outcry grows over Venezuela opposition arrest warrant

The Venezuelan public prosecutor's office said Monday that a court had approved its arrest warrant for Gonzalez Urrutia over "serious crimes" related to the opposition's insistence that President Nicolas Maduro and his allies stole the election.

Gonzalez Urrutia, who has been in hiding since shortly after the July 28 polls, had ignored three summons to appear before prosecutors as part of their investigation.

"Rather than recognizing his election loss and preparing for a peaceful transition in Venezuela, Maduro has now ordered the arrest of the democratic leader who defeated him overwhelmingly at the polls," the top US diplomat for Latin America, Brian Nichols, wrote on the X social network.

"We join the growing list of international partners condemning this unjustified arrest warrant."

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell wrote on X: "I categorically reject the arrest warrant."

"Enough of the repression and harassment of the opposition and civil society. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected."

Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay said they "unequivocally and absolutely reject the arrest warrant," in a joint statement released by the Ecuadoran foreign ministry.

- Disputed poll outcome -

Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE), most of whose members are allies of 61-year-old Maduro, declared him reelected to a third six-year term -- an outcome disputed by the opposition and much of the international community.

The opposition published its own polling station-level election results, which it says show Gonzalez Urrutia won the race by a landslide.

Those results are at the heart of the charges against the 75-year-old ex-diplomat, which include "usurpation" of public functions, "forgery" of a public document, incitement to disobedience, sabotage, and "association" with organized crime and financiers of "terrorism."

"No one in this country is above the laws, above the institutions," Maduro said on Monday in his weekly television program.

The United States and several Latin American countries support the Venezuelan opposition's claim to victory, while Maduro-friendly Mexico, Colombia and Brazil have refused to recognize the official result without seeing detailed vote tallies.

The CNE has said it cannot publish the records as hackers had corrupted the data, though observers have said there was no evidence of that.

Gonzalez Urrutia replaced opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on the ballot at the last minute after she was barred from running.

She, too, has been mostly in hiding since the vote, though she has led several organized protests against Maduro.

- Plane seized by US -

Maduro has said both Gonzalez Urrutia and Machado belong "behind bars," blaming them for the deaths of 25 civilians and two soldiers in protests that broke out spontaneously after his alleged victory was announced.

Nearly 200 people were injured and more than 2,400 arrested.

Since coming to power in 2013, Maduro has presided over an economic collapse that has seen more than seven million Venezuelans flee the country as GDP plunged 80 percent in a decade.

Experts blame international sanctions and domestic economic mismanagement.

Last week, a blackout left most of Venezuela without power for hours on end in what the regime claimed was "sabotage" under a US-led plot to overthrow the socialist leader.

Maduro has managed to cling to power despite sanctions stepped up after his 2018 reelection, also dismissed as a sham by dozens of countries.

The United States on Monday seized the plane used by Maduro and his entourage, citing sanctions violations.

US officials took the plane in the Dominican Republic and flew it to Florida.

Maduro denounced the move as tantamount to "piracy."

F.Leblanc--SMC