Venezuelan officials seek to block opposition leader Juan Guaid from leaving the country

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s chief prosecutor asked the pro-government Supreme Court on Tuesday to prohibit opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó from leaving the country and to freeze his bank accounts, a day after the United States slapped sweeping sanctions on Venezuela’s state-run oil company.

“We request these preventive measures against Guaidó while we compile elements to stop the events that since January 22 have broken the peace of the Republic,” the prosecutor, Tarek Saab, said in a news conference.

Speaking at the opposition-led National Assembly, which he heads, Guaidó responded to the move by dismissing it as “nothing new under the sun.” He said it came from “a regime that doesn’t give answers to Venezuelans” and whose “only answer is persecution and repression.” Guaidó added: “The world is clear on what’s happening in Venezuela .?.?. Let’s not get desist because of threats and persecution. We will continue to advance in our fight.”

The chief prosecutor’s request came after the United States escalated its efforts to unseat leftist President Nicolás Maduro on Monday by punishing the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), in an effort to transfer control over it to the opposition. The U.S. move freezes $7 billion in U.S.-based assets and blocks more than $11 billion in revenue that Venezuela would get from oil sales next year through its U.S.-based company Citgo, which owns three refineries in the United States and employs thousands of workers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuelan-officials-seek-to-block-us-supported-opposition-leader-juan-guaido-from-leaving-the-country-freeze-his-assets/2019/01/29/1a4791a0-232c-11e9-b5b4-1d18dfb7b084_story.html?utm_term=.bba12ad9aa05