Far-right Venezuelan politician Maria Corina Machado (right) posing for a photo with Vente Venezuela regional leader Emil Brandt-Ulloa (left). Photo: Union Radio/File photo.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—The attorney general of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, reported the arrest of Emil Brandt Ulloa, María Corina Machado’s campaign manager in Barinas state, on charges of conspiracy. Brant was summoned by the Public Ministry weeks ago and had forfeited responding to the Public Ministry, which issued a detention warrant.
This was announced this Saturday, March 9, by the highest representative of the Public Ministry, who noted the presentation of this citizen before a Control Court in Barinas state. Brandt is “incriminated in the violent events that occurred in Barinas on January 15 which were part of the initial plan to carry out terrorist actions on January 1 beginning in Táchira state until escalating to Caracas;” this plan is also known as the White Bracelet Operation.
#AHORA#presentando por el @MinpublicoVEN ante el Tribunal de Control de #Barinas el sujeto Emil Brandt Ulloa -quien hace semanas había sido citado sin comparecer al despacho fiscal- por lo que le fue librada la respectiva orden de #aprehensión, encontrándose hasta hoy evadido…
— Tarek William Saab (@TarekWiliamSaab) March 9, 2024
Likewise, the attorney general reported that Brandt’s presentation was already declined. Later, he will be charged in Caracas, before the Second Court of Control Against Terrorism, with charges of conspiracy, association, gender violence (physical), and offending the official. These charges were motivated by the attacks he inflicted on several police and military women.
Since the foiling of Operation White Bracelet, Venezuelan authorities have captured several operators belonging to the Vente Venezuela political organization owned by Machado. Televised confessions of several of the detained terrorist plotters directly named Machado as part of the conspiracy. So far, Venezuelan authorities have not summoned Machado to clarify her involvement in the plot.
Through social media platforms, María Corina Machado repudiated this action. She added that it constitutes another “violation of the already trampled Barbados Agreement and shows that Maduro has chosen to continue the hard way,” repeating the same narrative launched from Washington. Most analysts believe that it is Machado and the far-right Venezuelan opposition who have breached the Barbados Agreement by seeking violent means to oust President Nicolás Maduro and by not recognizing the last word of the Venezuelan Supreme Court ratifying Machado’s disqualification to run for office.
Attorney General Saab also noted that Venezuela is a territory of peace and, thus, must be protected from any new far-right destabilization attempt. He compared Operation White Bracelet to the actions undertaken by violent sectors “during the years 2014 and 2017 with the so-called guarimbas, the attempted assassination with drones in 2018 on Bolívar Avenue, as well as with the attempted coup d’état in 2019, Gideon’s terrorist mercenary operation in 2020, and the continuing conspiracy plots in 2023.”
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
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