Venezuela exiled critic linked to drone raid

PRESIDENT Nicolas Maduro has accused two opposition legislators of having roles in the drone attack that Venezuelan officials have called an assassination attempt on the leader, and his allies are moving against the accused.

The head of Venezuela’s progovernment constitutional assembly said he would have the body take up a proposal yesterday to strip the lawmakers of their immunity from prosecution.

During a national television broadcast on Tuesday night, Maduro said statements from some of the six suspects already arrested in the weekend attack pointed to key financiers and others, including Julio Borges, one of the country’s most prominent opposition leaders who is a lawmaker but is living in exile in Colombia.

“Several of the declarations indicated Julio Borges. The investigations point to him,” Maduro said, though he provided no details on Borges’ alleged role.

Borges did not immediately comment on Maduro’s accusation.

The president also named opposition lawmaker Juan Requesens, who was seen in a video widely circulating on social media being arrested by Venezuela’s political police force.

Critics of Maduro’s government had said immediately after the attack they feared the unpopular leader would use it as an excuse to round up opposition politicians as he seeks to dampen spreading discontent over Venezuela’s devastating economic collapse.

In the attack, two drones armed with explosives detonated near Maduro as he spoke outdoors during a military celebration on Saturday. Images on live television showed Maduro and his wife looking up at the sky at one blast and then hundreds of soldiers scrambling.