Venezuela issues arrest warrant for ex-opposition leader Guaido

Venezuelan judicial officials have issued an arrest warrant against the former opposition leader Juan Guaido, charging the politician with multiple illegal activities.

Prosecutors were appointed “to issue an arrest warrant against him and to request a Red Notice from Interpol so that he pays for his crimes,” Attorney General Tarek William Saab said on Thursday night.

Living in exile in the United States, Guaido was accused of treason, money laundering, impersonating public officials, and above all, misappropriation of $19 billion of the resources of PDVSA oil company and using money from the country’s state-owned oil company for his own financial benefit, the official said.

“Guaido used the resources of PDVSA (the public oil giant) to cause losses close to or greater than $19 billion,” the prosecutor said, adding that he relied on “revelations” provided to the press “by a federal court in the United States.”

Guaido described the charges lodged against him as “politically motivated” after the announcement by the Venezuelan prosecutor.

The Venezuelan government has said that it still has 27 different probes of Guaido underway but this is the first time it has sought his arrest.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro won the presidential elections in 2018; however, challenging Maduro’s re-election, Guaido declared himself the “interim president” of Venezuela in January 2019.

He had been elected back then as the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, the highest-ranking public legislative official.