Venezuela arrests opposition leader ahead of contested elections
Leading Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanipa was arrested Friday on charges of conspiring to sabotage upcoming parliamentary and regional elections that the opposition has vowed to boycott.
The arrest of Guanipa, a 60-year-old former MP and close ally of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, comes amid rising tensions ahead of Sunday's election, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Machado has called on voters to spurn the ballot, which comes 10 months after elections that leftist President Nicolas Maduro is widely accused of stealing.
Guanipa, like Machado, went into hiding after the July 2024 presidential vote, which the opposition and much of the international community believes opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia rightfully won.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello linked Guanipa's arrest to what the government called a foiled plot by foreign mercenaries to sabotage Sunday's vote for members of parliament and 24 state governors.
"He is one of the leaders of this terrorist network," Cabello said on state television, adding that the plan to disrupt the vote was detailed on four telephones and a laptop found in Guanipa's possession.
The suspects planned to plant bombs in hospitals, metro stations, police stations and power plants, Cabello said, adding that authorities had seized explosives, weapons, detonators and cash.
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