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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <a
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href="https://orinocotribune.com/msm-brushes-off-arrest-of-guaidos-uncle-for-smuggling-explosives-as-intimidation/">orinocotribune.com</a>
<h1 class="reader-title">MSM Brushes Off Arrest of Guaido's
Uncle for Smuggling EXPLOSIVES as Intimidation</h1>
February 14, 2020</div>
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<p>The arrest of self-appointed ‘interim’ president of
Venezuela Juan Guaido’s uncle on explosives smuggling
charges has been spun as a ‘kidnapping’ – or even
‘revenge’ for Guaido’s State of the Union stunt – by
credulous MSM.</p>
<p>Juan José Marquez, uncle to thrice-failed coup leader
Guaido, was arrested on Tuesday after returning to
Caracas from Lisbon, where he had been accompanying his
relative on a world tour to shore up support for the
latter’s flagging efforts to depose Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro.</p>
<p>While Marquez was charged with smuggling “dangerous
materials” – a stash of C4 explosives concealed in
flashlight batteries and perfume capsules – into the
country, sympathetic media have lined up behind Guaido’s
explanation for the arrest. Marquez, Guaido insisted,
had been “forcibly disappeared by the dictatorship” in a
“cowardly move” meant to intimidate the wannabe leader.</p>
<p><a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/diosdado-cabello-guaidos-uncle-was-arrested-after-carrying-explosives-on-tap-flight-video/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RELATED
CONTENT: Diosdado Cabello: Guaido’s Uncle was Arrested
After Carrying Explosives on TAP Flight (Video)</a></p>
<p>Vice President Diosdado Cabello poured cold water on
that theory. “He’s detained, not forcibly disappeared,
he’s detained for bringing prohibited substances onto a
flight,” the statesman explained on his Wednesday night
TV program, showing photos of the explosives and a
bulletproof vest – also contraband – allegedly taken off
Marquez after he went through immigration control at
Caracas airport. The supposedly apolitical uncle, whose
wife insisted he was an airplane pilot who merely
accompanied Guaido for protection, was also in
possession of an electronic file with information about
“operations against Venezuela” and contact information
for a US secret service agent, Cabello said.</p>
<p>Maduro’s second-in-command also showed an image of
Guaido’s ID card cut up, explaining it had been
confiscated at the airport upon his return to Caracas.
Guaido embarked on his three-week ‘last chance’ tour in
violation of a travel ban placed upon him by the
government, whose promises to bring him to justice upon
his return triggered warnings of a “swift” – presumably
military – “response” from the US government. While
friendly media at first claimed Guaido was embraced by
supporters as he arrived at the airport, later stories
admitted he was actually met by an enraged group who
threw things at him, denouncing the US-imposed sanctions
that have produced dire shortages of needed supplies –
though that group was framed as a “pro-government mob,”
or even organized by “the Maduro regime.” Guaido has
defended the sanctions and warned there would be more to
come.</p>
<p><a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/diosdado-cabello-what-happened-yesterday-at-guaidos-arrival-is-a-spontaneous-reaction-of-an-indignant-people/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RELATED
CONTENT: Diosdado Cabello: What Happened Yesterday at
Guaido’s Arrival is a Spontaneous Reaction of an
Indignant People</a></p>
<p>The US-backed would-be president’s use of the word
“disappeared” to elicit sympathy from his allies in
Latin America and beyond rings as particularly cynical
given that one of his chief allies in the US, special
envoy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams, was deeply involved
in many of the US-backed military dictatorships that
‘disappeared’ thousands of political dissidents, union
leaders, and other inconvenient individuals in the
1980s. Abrams has threatened not only Maduro, but any
foreign country that continues to do business with his
government, with severe repercussions including (but
presumably not limited to, given his history) sanctions.
Marquez’s trial began on Wednesday night and he is being
represented by private lawyers, according to opposition
lawmaker Delsa Solorzano – courtesies not extended the
victims of regimes of decades past.</p>
<p>Guaido was one of the guests of honor at US President
Donald Trump’s State of the Union address last month,
and some particularly anti-Maduro US media even
suggested Marquez’s arrest was “revenge” for the
cringeworthy stunt. Despite his enthusiastic support in
the Trump administration, however, Guaido’s base in
Venezuela has dwindled, with even the anti-Maduro
National Assembly electing a new leader last month.</p>
<p><em>Featured image: © Reuters / Manaure Quintero</em></p>
<p><a
href="https://www.rt.com/news/480778-guaido-uncle-arrested-explosives-media/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Source URL:
RT News</a></p>
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