By Deisy Buitrago
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s government will allow six aides of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado to travel safely to Argentina, a government source said on Friday.
The aides – including campaign manager Magalli Meda, previously tipped as a potential replacement for Machado in this year’s presidential election – sought protection at Argentina’s embassy in Caracas in March after the attorney general’s office announced warrants for their arrest.
An opposition source said they were aware of the efforts but shared no further details.
“We have granted safe passage to those six people. We are waiting for Argentina to take them to Buenos Aires,” the government source said. “The Venezuelan government has extraordinarily allowed them to leave the country for humanitarian reasons.”
While the aides will be allowed to leave, the criminal case against them will remain, they added.
Venezuela’s attorney general Tarek Saab said in March that two people close to Machado had been arrested, while seven other members of her team had warrants out for their detention.
The arrests and warrants were for alleged involvement in planned conspiracies, Saab said.
Machado has denied any allegations of misconduct by her team.
(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago, additional reproting by Vivian Sequera and Mayela Armas in Caracas and Lucila Sigal in Buenos Aires; Writing by Oliver Griffin)
Comments