Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, an ally of Chavismo, announced this Thursday (2) that he requested capture and extradition orders for two opposition leaders to dictator Nicolás Maduro, for their alleged involvement in corruption at the state-owned oil company. PDVSA.
The targets are the leaders of the Voluntad Popular party, Leopoldo López, who is in exile in Spain, and of Primero Justicia, Julio Borges, who is in Colombia.
On Monday (29), Saab had already accused both of them and two more opposition leaders, Carlos Ocariz and Carlos Vecchio, of having links with the former Minister of Oil and former Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami and with businessman Samark López, arrested on April 9th.
According to information from the website Efecto Cocuyo, Saab said this Thursday that Samark López had detailed in an alleged confession the participation of Leopoldo López and Borges in the transfer of oil tankers in exchange for gains that would exceed US$1 billion.
The two opposition leaders already had extradition orders issued against them by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Venezuela: Borges, on charges of having participated in an alleged assassination attempt against Maduro in 2018, and Leopoldo López, for protests against the regime chavista in 2014.
This week, Julio Borges wrote in X that Saab and the Maduro regime “are corrupt and liars”, while López, at an event in the United States, accused the Venezuelan dictatorship of trying to “divert attention”.
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