CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s Juan Guaido on Tuesday accused the government of illegally detaining an opposition activist, blaming it for what he called the forced disappearance of Roland Carreno of the Popular Will party.
Carreno was approached on Monday afternoon by unidentified people in vehicles without license plates, Popular Will said on Twitter. It added that the party had been unable to confirm his location after that encounter.
“He remains disappeared,” Guaido, head of the opposition-controlled legislature, wrote in a separate tweet. “We alert the world about his forced disappearance and we hold the dictatorship responsible for his physical and mental integrity.”
Guaido did not provide further details about Carreno’s situation. The government of President Nicolas Maduro frequently arrests opposition adversaries, often without due process and in some cases leaves them incomunicado for hours or days.
Popular Will said it had been unable to locate two men who were with Carreno when he was last seen.
The information ministry and chief prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Carreno’s disappearance comes days after Leopoldo Lopez, one of the founders of Popular Will, left the residence of the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, where he had taken refuge since April 2019 after escaping house arrest.
After Lopez’s departure from the Spanish ambassador’s residence, at least nine people were arrested. All Venezuelans, they included the residence’s cook, two bodyguards and other employees.
Lawyers for the detainees said they were released between Sunday and Monday by the Sebin intelligence agency.
Lopez was detained in 2014 for leading anti-government protests. He was first held in a military prison and then at his residence in Caracas. He left the country over the weekend and traveled to Spain, where his family now lives.
Guaido has been recognized by dozens of countries as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
(Reporting by Vivian Sequera, writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Tom Brown)
