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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element" dir="ltr"> <a
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href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14931">https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14931</a>
<h1 class="reader-title">Venezuela: Arrest Warrants Issued for
Guaido’s Foreign Commissioner & US, UK Reps</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By Paul Dobson - July 6,
2020<br>
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<p>Mérida, July 6, 2020 (<a
href="http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/">venezuelanalysis.com</a>)
– Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek William
Saab issued arrest warrants for eleven
members of Guaido’s inner circle on Friday,
including his US and UK representatives.</p>
<p>The citizens were targeted following their
reported involvement in the “plunder” of 31
tonnes of<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14144">
Venezuelan gold</a> held in the Bank of
England (BoE) and follows a contested London
court <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14929">ruling
</a>blocking the government’s efforts to
regain control over the assets.</p>
<p>Guaido’s representatives in London and
Washington,<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14651">
Vanessa Neumann</a> and<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14572">
Carlos Vecchio</a>, have both been accused
of treason, usurpation of office and
criminal association, as has his appointed
“special commissioner for foreign relations”<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/12023"> Julio Borges</a>, who is
based in Colombia.</p>
<p>Warrants on the same charges were also
issued for Ricardo Villasmil, Giacoma
Cortesia, Manuel Rodriguez, Nelson Lugo and
Carlos Suarez, who make up Guaido’s ad-hoc
Central Bank (BCV) board, which will now
attempt to access the US $1.2 billion
assets, and Jose Hernandez, Irene de Lourdes
and Geraldine Afiuni from Guaido’s Special
Attorney’s office.</p>
<p>In addition to the warrants, Saab announced
that any local assets belonging to the
citizens are to be frozen, and that his
office is considering appealing to
international policing bodies to assist in
their capture. All of the eleven citizens
currently live abroad.</p>
<p>“These criminals have acted in favour of
foreign power’s interests, concocting to
make the Venezuelan people suffer from food,
medicine and fuel shortages so as to enrich
themselves at the expense of the country,”
the attorney general argued, before going on
to describe Borges, Neumann and Vecchio as
“false representatives” of the country.</p>
<p>Friday’s charges are just the latest in a
number of criminal accusations against
Guaido’s team, including <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14548">embezzlement</a>,
<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14739">corruption</a>,
and association with Colombian <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14656">paramilitaries
</a>and US <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14872">mercenaries</a>.</p>
<p>Both <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10730">Vecchio</a>
and Borges have<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13987">
pre-existing</a> arrest warrants open
against them in Venezuela following their
alleged roles in failed attempts to <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14888">overthrow</a>
the Maduro government. Borges has been
previously linked to the<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13987">
2018 drone assassination</a> attempt
against the president.</p>
<p>For her part, Neumann has been<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14651">
accused</a> of looking to bargain off
Venezuela’s historical claim to the oil-rich
and disputed<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11459">
Essequibo Strip</a> to the neighbouring
Cooperative Republic of Guyana in exchange
for diplomatic recognition from London. The
US-Venezuelan citizen was additionally
accused by the government of “working with
paramilitary groups in Colombia in 2009 and
2010” and “being a US government agent” last
week.</p>
<p>In response to Saab’s announcement,
Guaido’s “Commission for Foreign Relations”<a
href="https://twitter.com/JulioBorges/status/1279155454329978886?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1279155454329978886%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.laiguana.tv%2Farticulos%2F761592-guaido-reaccion-ordenes-aprehension-oro%2F">
described</a> the charges as “repression,”
while the opposition leader<a
href="https://twitter.com/jguaido/status/1279509945591922694">
defended</a> his team’s efforts to
“protect Venezuelan gold in the UK.”</p>
<p>Last Thursday, a UK High Court ruling
blocked Maduro’s efforts to regain control
over the gold, with Judge Nigel Teare
arguing that the court was “bound” by 10
Downing Street’s “unequivocal recognition
[of] opposition leader Juan Guaido as
president.” While the assets remain blocked,
Guaido’s ad-hoc BCV board is expected to
file for control in the near future.</p>
<p>In response, the Venezuelan Central Bank
pledged to appeal the “outrageous” decision.
Government lawyers also claim that it fails
to recognise the “reality of the situation
on the ground,” in which the Maduro
government is "in complete control of
Venezuela and its administrative
institutions.”</p>
<p>The gold was initially<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14144">
frozen</a> by BoE authorities in November
2018 citing “standard” anti-money-laundering
measures.</p>
<p>Following Guaido’s<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14244">
self-declaration</a> as “interim
president” in January 2019, gaining
immediate recognition from Washington and
London, the UK foreign office has since
supported a number of regime change attempts
and formed a special government-run “<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14910">Venezuela
Reconstruction Unit</a>.”</p>
<p>Similarly, the UK followed the European
Union in strengthening its<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14925">
sanction</a>s regime against the country
last month, applying asset freezes and
travel bans on a number of Venezuelan
officials in addition to previous measures.
Despite its recognition of Guaido, the UK
maintains dual diplomatic relations with
both his representative and Maduro’s
ambassador to the island, Rocio Maneiro.</p>
<p>After<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14139">
previous attempts</a> to repatriate the
reserves, Caracas looked to<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14880">
force</a> the BoE to release the gold in
May. Under the proposed resolution deal, the
gold was to be sold and the funds directly
channelled through the United Nations
Development Program to acquire food and
medicine to assist in the fight against the
COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>Despite registering much fewer cases than
neighbouring countries, the <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14924">coronavirus</a>
is increasingly taking hold in the
sanction-hit Latin American nation. On
Sunday, a record 419 coronavirus cases were
identified by authorities, taking the total
to 7,169, of which 2,100 have recovered and
65 have passed away. With a rapid increase
in recent weeks, the country returned to a
“strict” nationwide quarantine this week as
part of the week-on-week-off lockdown
program which Maduro claimed will be in
place “until a vaccine appears.”</p>
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