By Vivian Sequera and Mayela Armas
The attorney general's office in Venezuela announced on Monday that a court has issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, accusing him of incitement and other crimes in the midst of a dispute over the results of a July election between him and President Nicolas Maduro.
Attorney General Tarek Saab shared a photo of the warrant with Multibagger via the messaging app Telegram.
If the arrest warrant against Gonzalez is executed, it would mark a significant escalation in the government's crackdown on the opposition following the contentious election.
While Venezuela's national electoral authority and top court declared Maduro as the winner of the July 28 election with just over half of the votes, the opposition's tallies showed a clear victory for Gonzalez.
The opposition, along with some Western nations and international bodies like a United Nations panel, have criticized the election for lacking transparency and demanded the release of full tallies, with some alleging fraud.
The opposition has made public what it claims to be copies of over 80% of ballot box-level tallies on a website, but the electoral council cited a cyber attack on election night as the reason for not publishing the full results.
The request for an arrest warrant seems to be the government's latest move in what the opposition perceives as a crackdown on dissent.
Attorney General Tarek Saab has initiated criminal investigations against opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and the opposition vote tally website, and arrests of opposition members and protestors have continued since the election, resulting in at least 27 deaths and 2,400 arrests.
In a letter to a court specialized in terrorism cases, prosecutor Luis Ernesto Duenez requested a warrant for Gonzalez on charges of usurpation of functions, falsification of public documents, instigation to disobedience of the law, conspiracy, and association, all allegedly committed against the state of Venezuela.
A spokesperson for Gonzalez stated that they are awaiting any notification of a warrant but declined further comment, maintaining the opposition's denial of any wrongdoing.
"They have lost all notion of reality," Machado said in a statement. "Threatening the President-elect will only strengthen cohesion and increase support from Venezuelans and the world for Edmundo Gonzalez."
Gonzalez had ignored three summons to testify about the website, potentially leading to the issuance of a warrant in that case.
According to Venezuelan law, individuals over 70 years old are not required to serve sentences in jail and are instead placed under house arrest. Gonzalez, who turned 75 last week, falls under this provision.
The U.S. has reportedly compiled a list of around 60 Venezuelan government officials and their family members who could face sanctions as the first punitive measures following the election, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Following the election, the ruling party-controlled national assembly passed a law tightening regulations on NGOs, while unions reported forced resignations of state employees supporting the opposition.
The request for an arrest warrant came shortly after the Biden administration announced the confiscation of an aircraft used by Maduro in the Dominican Republic, a move denounced by the Venezuelan government as an act of "piracy."
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