CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan security forces prevented opposition lawmakers from entering the parliament building for a session on Tuesday, a week after the top court stripped several lawmakers of their immunity amid a political crisis in the South American country.

Members of the Sebin intelligence service, wearing masks and carrying long guns, together with members of the national police and the military blocked the entrance and were investigating the possible presence of an explosive device inside the National Assembly building, lawmakers said.

Last week, one opposition lawmaker was arrested and several took refuge in foreign embassies in Caracas or fled the country as President Nicolas Maduro cracked down on allies of opposition leader Juan Guaido, following a failed effort to convince members of the military to rise up against Maduro in late April.

Guaido, the leader of the opposition-controlled Assembly, in January invoked Venezuela’s constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate. More than 50 countries have recognised him as the country’s rightful leader, and say the assembly is its last remaining democratic institution.

“This is all part of a show to prevent the National Assembly from functioning,” lawmaker Juan Pablo Guanipa told Reuters. “This is a dictatorship that goes after dissidents, and we are fighting for a political change.”

Venezuela’s information ministry, which handles media inquiries on behalf of the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Maduro, a socialist, calls Guaido a puppet of the United States seeking to oust him in a coup.

The government stripped the assembly of most of its powers after the opposition won a majority in 2015 elections. Lawmakers loyal to Maduro generally do not attend the sessions, but go to meetings of the constituent assembly, a legislative “superbody” created in 2017 that meets in the same building on Wednesdays.

The “superbody” is an all-powerful legislature controlled by the ruling Socialist Party and whose powers supersede those of the National Assembly.

Tuesday’s session was scheduled for 10 a.m. (1400 GMT), but never began. The lawmakers were set to discuss the Supreme Court’s stripping of several of their colleagues’ parliamentary immunity and the arrest of Edgar Zambrano, the Assembly’s vice president and an outspoken critic of Maduro.

Opposition lawmaker Jorge Millan told reporters the report of “bombs” in the building was false.

“It is a trick to prevent the parliament from functioning today,” he said. “If we do not have a session today, we will do it tomorrow.”

(Reporting by Mayela Armas and Corina Pons; Writing by Luc Cohen; Editing by Phil Berlowitz) </s> • Venezuelan intelligence agents arrested the vice president of the opposition-led national assembly on Wednesday.
• Authorities attempted to detain Edgar Zambrano as he drove out of the opposition party headquarters, but he refused to leave his car.
• His car was then towed directly into a Caracas prison with him still inside.
• The detention is part of a larger crackdown on opposition leaders who participated in last week’s failed military uprising.

Venezuelan authorities arrested the vice president of the opposition-led national assembly on Wednesday – the first detention of a major opposition figure since last week’s failed military uprising against President Nicolás Maduro.

Edgar Zambrano was leaving his party’s headquarters in Caracas when agents from the SEBIN intelligence agency stopped his car, the politician tweeted. After he refused to leave his vehicle, security forces towed him to the infamous Helicoide prison.

“We democrats will keep fighting,” he said on Twitter.

Zambrano was among the high profile leaders who joined an attempted revolt against the socialist government last Tuesday, The Associated Press reported. He went to the Caracas bridge where opposition leader Juan Guaidó was calling for military defections, and thanked the small group of rebel soldiers who had changed allegiances.

The protest failed to spark any large scale defections.

Read more: Protestors clash with the regime as the opposition struggles to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro

Maduro ally Diosdado Cabello confirmed on state television that Zambrano was arrested because of his involvement in the uprising.

“He was one of the principal bosses behind the coup,” Cabello said to loud applause. “The tow truck got him.”

Guaidó accused Maduro’s government of “kidnapping” his deputy, and undermining the people who voted opposition lawmakers into the national assembly. Guaidó and his supporters believe elections for other government bodies were rigged.

“With these actions, the usurpers want to affect the only democratic institution legitimized by the popular vote,” Guaidó tweeted.

The US State Department said Zambrano’s detention was “illegal and inexcusable.”

“If he is not freed immediately, there will be consequences,” the American embassy in Venezuela tweeted.

Wednesday’s arrest is part of a larger crackdown in response to the unsuccessful revolt.

The Constituent Assembly, stacked with Maduro loyalists, had already revoked parliamentary immunity from Zambrano and six other lawmakers so they could be prosecuted, The Guardian reported. The opposition does not recognize the decision.

The Maduro government also said it was investigating Zambrano and eight other opposition leaders for “betraying the homeland” and “instigating insurrection,” according to the AP.

Guaidó believes he hasn’t been arrested yet because Maduro fears retaliation.

“Because they’re scared. Those that try to spread or generate a perception of control are the ones that don’t have it,” Guaidó told CNN.

The US, Guaidó’s most important international backer, has already threatened military intervention in Venezuela if other avenues for Maduro’s removal do not succeed. </s> Venezuelan intelligence agents on Wednesday detained Edgar Zambrano, the deputy leader of the opposition-dominated National Assembly, for supporting an attempted uprising on April 30.

Zambrano, opposition leader and self-declared President Juan Guaido's deputy as National Assembly speaker, was detained by agents in Caracas for backing the failed April 30 military uprising against President Nicolas Maduro, which was orchestrated by Guaido.

"We warn the people of Venezuela and the international community: the regime has kidnapped the first vice president" of the National Assembly, Guaido wrote in a Twitter post. "They are trying to destroy the power representing all Venezuelans, but they will not achieve it."

The Constituent Assembly has said it would suspend the immunity of any lawmakers who backed the uprising, which sparked two days of clashes between security forces and protesters.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab says the clashes left six people dead. Dozens more were injured and more than 233 were arrested.

Read more: Venezuela: Coup or uprising? It depends on who you support

Watch video 05:22 Share Venezuela's Guaido calls for uprising Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3Hk6G Venezuela's Guaido calls for uprising

Towed to prison

Party head Carlos Prosperi said security forces towed Zambrano's car away while the lawmaker still inside.

Zambrano's exact whereabouts were unknown, but he tweeted that at 6:35 p.m. (2235 UTC) he left his party's headquarters and his car was surrounded by intelligence officers.

He wrote that he refused to leave the vehicle, which was subsequently towed with him inside it to the Helicoide, a government building in Caracas used for holding prisoners.

Opposition lawmakers under investigation

In a separate case, Venezuela's Supreme Court indicted three more lawmakers for supporting Guaido's uprising.

The three lawmakers — named as Freddy Superlano, Sergio Vergara and Juan Andres Mejia — have been accused of high treason and conspiracy.

Their arrests come after a court announced the indictment of seven others on Tuesday.

Guaido, who is recognized as Venezuela's interim president by more than 50 countries, was also stripped of his immunity on April 2.

In response to the first indictments on Tuesday, Guaido said in a speech that the government's "only response ... is to persecute, because they no longer govern, because they no longer have command."

Watch video 01:53 Share Venezuela's Lopez speaks out Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3Hr88 Venezuelan opposition activist speaks out against Maduro

law/sms (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> A Venezuelan opposition lawmaker sought refuge in Argentina's embassy in Caracas Thursday, hours after the detention of a key figure in the movement over last week's failed uprising against President Nicolas Maduro.

Richard Blanco is one of 10 National Assembly members charged with treason for supporting opposition leader Juan Guaido's call for a military revolt on April 30.

"I've come here to sleep because my life is in danger," Blanco told the VPI television station, adding that we would stay only "temporarily."

Blanco sought sanctuary after Edgar Zambrano, the vice-president of Venezuela's opposition-controlled parliament, was seized by intelligence agents on Wednesday night.

The 64-year-old's car was surrounded outside his Democratic Action Party's headquarters before it was towed, with him still in it, to the notorious Helicoide prison.

He narrated the drama in real time on Twitter, while images of the incident also circulated on social media.

"Democrats, keep up the fight!" tweeted Zambrano.

Another lawmaker, Mariela Magallanes, had escaped to the Italian embassy, Rome announced on Wednesday.

Zambrano is deputy to National Assembly speaker Guaido, who organized the April 30 revolt by around 30 members of the armed forces, many of whom subsequently fled to the Brazilian embassy.

Venezuela was plunged into turmoil in January when Guaido declared himself acting president in a direct challenge to Maduro's authority.

He has since been recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries as he steps up the pressure to oust Maduro, whom he considers illegitimate after 2018 elections widely seen as fraudulent.

But the socialist leader remains steadfast, backed by Venezuela's powerful military high command.

"We warn the people of Venezuela and the international community: the regime has kidnapped the first vice-president" of the National Assembly, said Guaido.

"They are trying to destroy the power representing all Venezuelans, but they will not achieve it," Guaido said.

The United States, European Union and several Latin American states criticized Zambrano's arrest.

On the Twitter account of its now-closed embassy in Caracas, Washington called the detention "illegal and inexcusable," warning of "consequences" if he is not immediately released.

US President Donald Trump -- whose government was among the first to back Guaido -- said he was "discussing the terrible abuses by Maduro."

Trump did not mention Zambrano but said the US would stand with the people of Venezuela "for however long it takes."

The EU and several of Venezuela's neighbors protested Zambrano's arrest while the country's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza vowed to bring to justice "accomplices to an unconstitutional military uprising,

Venezuela's Supreme Court meanwhile added three more lawmakers to the seven already indicted for treason and conspiracy over their backing of Guaido's uprising.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab says the two days of clashes that followed left six people dead.

The Constituent Assembly, which Maduro created to sideline the National Assembly, has said it would suspend the immunity of any lawmakers who backed the uprising.

Guaido said in a speech after the first indictments on Tuesday that the government's "only response... is to persecute, because they no longer govern, because they no longer have command."

Venezuela has suffered five years of recession that has seen more than 2.7 million people flee poverty, hyperinflation, food shortages and insecurity since 2015, according to United Nations figures.
Venezuelan security forces surround the Palacio Federal Legislativo in Caracas, preventing opposition National Assembly lawmakers from entering the building to discuss a response to the recent arrest of National Assembly Vice President Edgar Zambrano.