Edgar Zambrano, the deputy of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaid\u00f3, has lashed out at the government of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro as he was released from detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Zambrano was arrested in May on suspicion of treason shortly after a failed uprising against President Maduro organised by Mr Guaid\u00f3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said his detention amounted to a \u201ckidnapping\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government said he was released to further \u201cpeaceful coexistence\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 64-year-old lawyer is a member of the National Assembly, Venezuela\u2019s opposition-controlled parliament, for the Democratic Action party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since January, he has been the deputy of National Assembly leader, Juan Guaid\u00f3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Guaid\u00f3 declared himself interim president in January, arguing that the 2018 re-election of President Maduro was fraudulent. He has been recognised by more than 50 countries as Venezuela\u2019s legitimate leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Zambrano was one of Mr Guaid\u00f3\u2019s key aides as the latter tried to oust President Maduro from power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Zambrano was arrested shortly after Mr Guaid\u00f3 tried to get the military to switch sides and support him rather than President Maduro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On 30 April, Mr Guaid\u00f3 appeared at an air force base in the capital, Caracas, surrounded by about 30 men in uniform calling on people to take to the streets to end \u201cthe usurpation of power\u201d by President Maduro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edgar Zambrano could be seen in footage recorded a few hours later alongside Mr Guaid\u00f3 on a bridge near the base as it became clear that the attempted uprising had failed to garner the necessary support to succeed. That footage led to Mr Zambrano being accused of treason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eight days after the failed uprising, members of Venezuela\u2019s secret service intercepted the lawmaker as he was leaving his party\u2019s headquarters in his car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They ordered him to get out of the vehicle and when he refused, he was towed to prison while still inside the car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attorney-General Tarek William Saab said a petition for his release had been granted following \u201cpartial agreements reached by the government and parts of the opposition in order to foster citizens\u2019 peaceful co-existence\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Saab did not say if the treason charges against Mr Zambrano had been dropped. His statement also said that Mr Zambrano would still be facing \u201cother precautionary measures\u201d instead of detention, although he did not make clear what those were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Zambrano spoke to journalists as soon as he was released and was scathing in his criticism of what he said was his completely illegal detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI do not suffer from Stockholm syndrome,\u201d he said referring to the condition which causes hostages to feel sympathy with their captors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI will not thank my kidnappers nor any pseudo-opposition for my release,\u201d he said referring to Mr Saab\u2019s explanation that talks with parts of the opposition had led to his freeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI did not commit any crime, I was kidnapped and almost annihilated by this regime solely for thinking differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He described how he was not allowed to see his wife until his 34th day in captivity and how he did not have any access to his lawyers for more than two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called for the release of \u201call political prisoners\u201d. According to pressure group Foro Penal, there are 478 political prisoners in Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Zambrano also said he would meet Juan Guaid\u00f3 later on Wednesday and soon retake his seat in the National Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Guaid\u00f3 said that Mr Zambrano\u2019s release was due to public and international pressure, including a report by UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet<\/a>, put on the government to release the political prisoners it is holding. \u201cIt\u2019s not a \u2018kindness\u2019 shown by the dictatorship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the four opposition lawmakers taking part in dialogue with the government was more positive about Mr Zambrano\u2019s release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Timoteo Zambrano, who is no relation of Edgar Zambrano, tweeted: \u201cThe process of freeing political prisoners has begun. We celebrate the freedom of our colleague, the deputy Edgar Zambrano.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The talks which Attorney-General Saab says led to the release of Mr Zambrano are highly controversial. Only four little-known lawmakers signed an agreement to enter into the negotiations with the government on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The move was seen by larger and more influential parties as an attempt to divide the opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It came a day after Mr Guaid\u00f3 had announced that Norwegian-mediated talks between his representatives and the government had been exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government broadcast the signing of the \u201cdeal\u201d live on television in what critics say was a \u201cshow\u201d orchestrated for the international community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opposition news site Caraota Digital reported that European Union diplomats who had been invited to the event without being told what it was about walked out in protest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Edgar Zambrano, the deputy of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaid\u00f3, has lashed out at the government of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro as he was released from detention. Mr Zambrano was arrested in May on suspicion of treason shortly after a failed uprising against President Maduro organised by Mr Guaid\u00f3. He said his detention amounted to a \u201ckidnapping\u201d. The government said he… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3922,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3921\/revisions\/3922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Who is taking part in the talks?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n