Venezuela's government orders arrests of 3 exiled former lawmakers in renewed efforts to unseat Nicolas Maduro

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Venezuela's socialist government has ordered the arrest of three exiled former lawmakers at the forefront of renewed efforts to unseat President Nicolas Maduro.

Dinorah Figuera leads an a ll-female team selected last week by fellow opposition politicians to lead the National Assembly that was voted into office in 2015. The opposition-controlled assembly is widely considered the South American nation's last democratically elected institution, and although its five year mandate ended in late 2020, it continues to function as a symbolic shadow to Maduro's rubber-stamping National Assembly.

On Monday, Maduro's Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced that prosecutors had ordered the arrest of Figuera and her two deputies on charges of treason, money laundering and impersonating public officials.

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However, the arrest order is unlikely to be carried out. All three women, like many of Maduro's opponents, have fled Venezuela in recent years, fearing retaliation. Figuera, a surgeon by training, lives in Spain.

Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab announces the arrest order for three exiled former lawmakers in Caracas, Venezuela, on Jan. 9, 2023. The arrests come as part of an attempt to unseat President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

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In January 2019, the National Assembly voted to stop recognizing Maduro as president after several top opponents were barred from running against him. It then appointed Juan Guaidó to be the nation’s "interim president," in accordance with the order of succession outlined in Venezuela’s constitution. More than 60 countries quickly recognized him as Venezuela's legitimate leader.

Figuera was previously an unknown backbench lawmaker elected alongside Guaidó. She surged to the front of the opposition's efforts to unseat Maduro as part of an internal putsch against the beleaguered Guaidó, whose failure to shake Maduro's grip on power has frustrated many Venezuelans.

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Maduro ally Jorge Rodriguez, the head of the pro-government National Assembly, celebrated the announcement of the arrest orders, calling the 2015 National Assembly a "band of thieves" for their attempts to win control of Venezuela's extensive overseas oil assets, including Houston-based refinery Citgo.