Venezuela issues arrest warrant for opposition leader convicted by US, Brazil
Brazil’s top foreign policy adviser on Tuesday called the arrest warrant issued by Caracas against Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez “very worrying” and said there was a clear “authoritarian escalation.” in the country.
Other countries in the Americas, including the United States, Argentina and Peru, have also condemned the measure.
The Venezuelan attorney general’s office announced Monday that a court has issued an arrest warrant for Gonzalez, the former opposition presidential candidate, charging him with conspiracy and other crimes in a dispute over whether he or President Nicolas Maduro won the July 28 elections.
Brazilian President Celso Amorim said in an interview with Reuters that if Venezuelan authorities arrested Gonzalez, “it would be a political arrest, and we do not accept that there are political prisoners.”
“It is undeniable that there is an authoritarian escalation in Venezuela. We do not feel any openness to dialogue, the reactions to any comment are very strong,” Amorim said, while adding that Brazil remained hopeful for a solution to the crisis.
Washington also criticized the arrest warrant, issued after weeks of comments from Venezuelan government officials that Gonzalez and other opposition members should go to prison.
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“This is just another example of Mr. Maduro’s efforts to maintain power by force and to refuse to acknowledge that Mr. Gonzalez won the most votes on July 28,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
“We are considering a range of options to demonstrate to Mr. Maduro and his representatives that their actions in Venezuela will have consequences.”
Gonzalez is expected to make a statement Tuesday. His lawyer, Jose Vicente Haro, told Colombian radio W earlier in the day that Gonzalez has no plans to seek political asylum in another country.
Ruling party officials, including Maduro, have accused the opposition of stirring up violence, commanding fascist groups and working on behalf of imperialist interests abroad.
Criminal investigations have been opened against opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and the opposition’s vote counting website, while several senior opposition figures have been arrested.
Venezuela’s national electoral authority and its top court declared Maduro the winner of the election with just over half the vote, but tallies shared by the opposition show a resounding victory for the opposition.
Brazil and other countries have demanded the publication of the full vote count.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia and Steve Holland in Washington; Writing by Luana Maria Benedito and Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
