Fugitive mayor urges Venezuelans to continue resistance

By Nancy Caouette

MEXICO CITY – A Venezuelan mayor under an arrest warrant rejected his order of detention Wednesday in a video shot from a secret location in which he urged Venezuelans to continue to resist President Nicolas Maduro.

Ramon Muchacho, the mayor of the district of Chacao in Caracas, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 months in jail by the Supreme Court for not following an order to remove barricades during recent protests.

Muchacho said the Supreme Court’s decision is “illegitimate and unconstitutional” in the video published on social media.

“They persecute me, they punish me for doing my job, for guaranteeing the right to peaceful demonstrations in Chacao, guaranteeing the exercise of the civic and political rights of all Venezuelans,” he said while standing in front of a plain white wall wearing a t-shirt with Venezuela’s flag.

Muchacho who is the fourth Venezuelan mayor to be charged in two weeks, urged Venezuelans to continue to pressure the government that launched last week a controversial new Constituent Assembly that has the power to rewrite the Constitution and dissolve institutions.

“To all Venezuelans, the message is to continue in this struggle. Venezuela is big, beautiful and has great potential. And we will recover it," Muchacho said.

Venezuela has grappled with deadly political and economic crises as a period of sustained low crude oil prices has forced the government to cut back or eliminate its socialist programs.

The population is struggling with food and medicine shortages and galloping inflation.

Protests against Maduro’s government and the new Assembly have left at least 120 dead since April.

The Constituent Assembly was launched last Friday amid fraud accusations and international criticism, and is viewed by opposition lawmakers as an instrument for Maduro’s government to impose a dictatorship and silence opposition voices.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned seven current and former Venezuelan officials for participating in the Constituent Assembly, as well as another individual "who has participated in actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in Venezuela.

“President Maduro swore in this illegitimate Constituent Assembly to further entrench his dictatorship, and continues to tighten his grip on the country,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.

On Tuesday, foreign ministers from 12 regional countries, including Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia signed a declaration in Lima, Peru, that rejected the legitimacy of Constituent Assembly and said Venezuela “is no longer a democracy.”

* Michael Hernandez contributed to this report from Washington