By Kejal Vyas
CARACAS--A leading opposition figure in Venezuela will be
formally charged for what prosecutors are saying is her role in an
alleged plot to kill President Nicolas Maduro, months after
government critics dismissed the accusations as trumped up to
silence the administration's foes.
Maria Corina Machado was summoned to appear in front of a judge
here in the capital Dec. 3, the state prosecutor's office said in a
statement Wednesday after an eight-month investigation.
Top Venezuelan officials in May announced that they had
uncovered a plot to assassinate Mr. Maduro involving Ms. Machado,
several other government critics and the U.S. ambassador to
Colombia, allegations that the accused parties have all denied. The
president's allies had displayed emails allegedly sent among those
in the group as evidence of the conspiracy in a presentation
broadcast on all national television channels.
But a month later, a cybersecurity forensics expert hired by
Pedro Burelli, a former director of Venezuela's state oil company
who lives in the U.S. and was among those accused in the plot, said
the emails cited by the Venezuelan government appeared to have been
faked. The expert had used data provided by Google after Mr.
Burelli went to court to obtain the email information in an attempt
to clear his name.
"We reject the accusation completely and the fact that the
allegations are fake was already certified by the Google data,"
Tomás Arias, a lawyer for Ms. Machado said Wednesday. He said that
Ms. Machado will announce Thursday whether she will participate in
the court proceedings but added that the former congresswoman "has
always shown face."
Ms. Machado gave a nine-hour testimony to prosecutors in June in
relation to the alleged assassination plot and has been prohibited
from leaving the country since then.
Ms. Machado and other opposition leaders say the accusations are
false and are efforts by Mr. Maduro's government to stifle
political rivals as well as distract from the country's economic
turmoil, which polls show has led the president's approval rating
to slip to a record low of 30%.
Among the most vocal critics of Venezuela's leftist regime, Ms.
Machado promoted large protests earlier this year aiming to push
Mr. Maduro from office as activists took the streets to voice their
frustration with a collapsing economy, rampant violence, as well as
what they say is government corruption and mismanagement. The
demonstrations kicked off in February but tapered off by June as
clashes between protesters and state security forces cost more than
40 lives.
Ms. Machado was stripped of her congressional seat amid the
protests and after she attended a meeting of the Organization of
American States in Washington, at the request of Panama, to call
attention to the government's crackdown on protesters. Pro-Maduro
parliamentarians, who dominate the National Assembly, subsequently
voted to ban Ms. Machado from the legislative body, saying she
violated Venezuela's constitution by speaking at the OAS.
Another opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, has been held in a
military prison outside Caracas since February on charges of
inciting violence during the anti-government protests. Last month,
Mr. Lopez, who says he is a political prisoner, refused to
participate in a court hearing, demanding that Venezuela agree to a
United Nations' resolution calling for his release. He has denied
the charges against him.
Write to Kejal Vyas at kejal.vyas@wsj.com
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