LAW AND DISORDER
Venezuela’s US-backed leader Juan Guaidó says thugs from Maduro’s feared police unit threatened his wife and baby at his home
VENEZUELA'S US-backed leader Juan Guaidó says thugs from Maduro’s feared police unit threatened his wife and baby at his home.
Speaking at Venezuela's Central University, a flustered but determined Guaidó said his wife wasn’t at the high-rise apartment in Caracas when the brutes came calling, but his 20-month-old daughter was.
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The 35-year-old lawmaker said with his wife stood beside him: "I hold you responsible for anything that might happen to my baby.”
Four men from the brutal and feared Special Action Force asked security guards stationed there for his wife, according to Guaidó.
The firebrand rushed home and emerged an hour later holding his smiling daughter.
Children are sacred. Wives are sacred. So don't cross that red line.
Juan Guaidó
Guaidó said: "Children are sacred.
"Wives are sacred. So don't cross that red line."
In a statement on Twitter, Venezuela's police denied the allegation, dismissing the claim as "totally FALSE."
It is not unusual for the Venezuelan government and its leader, Nicolas Maduro, to use police and military to intimidate, and detain anyone it sees as dissenting.
And Guaidó is certainly doing that. The former leader of the National Assembly has declared himself interim president until free and fair elections can be called.
It was a move denounced by Maduro, who labelled it as a US-backed coup.
In a country where the socialist leader's foes often end up behind bars, Guaidó has thus far managed to avoid arrest, but in recent days authorities have let it be known that even as his powerful international support grows Guaidó isn't untouchable.
They're not going to succeed in intimidating this Venezuelan family.
Juan Guaidó
On Tuesday, the government-stacked Supreme Court barred Guaidó from leaving the country and froze his bank accounts.
Guaidó said: "They're not going to succeed in intimidating this Venezuelan family."
Even while denouncing the special police force, Guaidó appealed to them and the military to abandon Maduro and abide by the constitution, which he contends instructs him as leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly to take the presidency.
Regime resorts to targeting a 20-month-old baby… Shame on you Maduro.
Kimberly Breier, US assistant secretary of state
The opposition and a large segment of the international community consider Maduro's re-election fraudulent, in part because the president's most popular adversaries were barred from running.
Kimberly Breier, the current US assistant secretary of state for the region, tweeted: "Regime resorts to targeting a 20-month-old baby… Shame on you Maduro."
Maduro has retained the support of powerful allies, including Russia and China, but he is growing increasingly isolated as more nations back Guaidó .
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The European Parliament called on the European Union's 28 member states Thursday to recognise Guaidó.
He reappeared Thursday night to address dozens of neighbours and thank them for not letting state security forces intimidate the community.
He is urging Venezuelans to take to the streets again Saturday for a mass protest demanding that humanitarian aid enter the country, something the Maduro government has regularly refused, denying that a crisis is underway.
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Venezuela's Trump-backed interim president Juan Guaido begs for help from Europe as he reveals threats to his life
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