translated from Spanish: Venezuelan prosecutor’s office opened investigation against Juan Guaidó for alleged “betrayal of the homeland”

Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, on Friday announced the opening of an investigation against the self-proclaimed “president in charge,” Juan Guaidó, for an alleged attempt to hand over the Sequibo to Guyana.” Yesterday (Thursday) we launched an investigation against Juan Guaidó, Vanessa Neumann and Manuel Avendaño for allegedly being involved in an illegal negotiation that seeks to desist from the country’s historic claim to the territory of the Esequibo, to change of political support in the United Kingdom,” Saab said at a hearing. The vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, reported on Thursday in an intervention in Venezuelan Television (VTV) that the president, Nicolás Maduro, had asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to open a new investigation against the head of the National Assembly on this matter . Rodriguez provided as evidence a recording of a telephone conversation that Neumann, the ambassador appointed by Guaidó for the United Kingdom, and Avendaño, one of the advisers of the opposition leader, would have held before the self-proclaiming of January 23 about a possible transfer of the Sequibo to Guyana.” A series of evidence came into our hands of how the traitor to the homeland Juan Guaidó is negotiating the Esequibo in exchange for political support for his ghostly and purported government,” Maduro confirmed hours later in an official event, Venezuelan press reported. Saab has explained that these facts could constitute a crime of treason to the homeland for “seeking to cast ashore the extremely ant and academic work of several generations of Venezuelans who have fought for this territory, which was part of the Captaincy General of Venezuela, rejoin administratively.” The Esequibo is a territory of 159,542 kilometers that has important natural resources – oil, gas, mining, hydraulic and forestry – and a great tourist potential and that is located on the border between Venezuela and Guyana.It is managed by Guyana under an 1899 arbitration award that Venezuela considers null and void because the secret negotiations, which met years later, reveal vices of consent. In addition, Caracas contends that in the 1966 Geneva Agreement the United Kingdom, georgetown’s former colonial power, recognizes that it is a disputed territory. This is the fourth criminal case against Guaidó. He is already being investigated for proclaiming himself “president-in-charge,” alleged financial irregularities and the alleged diversion of funds for humanitarian aid. For now, precautionary measures have been issued against him but there is no arrest warrant. All these accusations are part of the political crisis suffered by Venezuela due to the pulse between Maduro and Guaidó for the international community to recognize them as the only legitimate representative.

Original source in Spanish