CARACAS: The Venezuelan government charged a prominent opposition leader yesterday of conspiracy in an alleged plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.
Maria Corina Machado, a vocal supporter of anti-government protests that rocked the country earlier this year, vehemently rejected the charges as she left the attorney general’s office after undergoing questioning.
“Today they have charged me with the crime of conspiracy,” she said. “All the accusations and supposed evidence are false, and I reject them.”
The attorney general’s office said in a statement she had been charged with “conspiracy” for “allegedly having links to the assassination plan against the president.” Under Venezuelan law, she faces eight to 16 years in prison if convicted, it said.
Maduro has made frequent claims of assassination and other plots against him.
Machado was ousted from her seat in the National Assembly
in March. AFP
