Opposition leader Juan Guaido denounced the arrest of his deputy leader Edgar Zambrano.
Zambrano was detained by agents from Venezuela’s Bolivarian Intelligence Service in Caracas for allegedly supporting a coup against President Nicolas Maduro that Guaido managed.
The intelligence agents used a tow truck to drag Zambrano’s vehicle away with him still inside it. This is the fist arrest of a lawmaker since Guaido tried to start a failed military uprising in ousting Maduro from his position.
Guaido, using his official twitter account, shared his thoughts on the said arrest and called it as an “absurd” tactic.
Venezuela’s pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly decided to detain Zambrano and six other lawmakers — named as Freddy Superlano, Sergio Vergara, and Juan Andres Mejia — due to treason, conspiracy, and rebellion. It also stripped them off of their parliamentary immunity to give way for their future prosecution.
The U.S Government’s Venezuelan embassy condemned the arrest and said that Zambrano’s detention was “illegal and inexcusable.”
