Venezuelan authorities have issued an arrest warrant against former opposition leader Juan Guaido, the country’s attorney general said Thursday.
During a press conference in the capital Caracas, Attorney General Tarek William Saab told reporters Guaido used the state-owned oil company PDVSA’s resources to finance himself and pay his legal expenses.
“Juan Guaido used PDVSA resources to finance himself, pay his legal expenses, and forced PDVSA to accept his financing terms. These decisions caused losses to the nation of $19 billion, resulting in the almost definitive loss of Citgo,” Saab said.
“For this reason, we have opened a new investigation against former deputy Juan Guaido, and we have requested an arrest warrant against him.”
Guaidó served as the interim president of Venezuela’s transitional government from 2019 until late 2022 – when he was ousted from his leadership role after struggling to make significant gains against the authoritarian regime of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Due to threats against him and after Guaido said he had been expelled from Colombia, the former Venezuelan National Assembly president traveled to Miami, where he has been since April 25.
Saab said Venezuela will request a red notice from Interpol.
The arrest warrant against Guaido will be for the alleged crimes of treason; usurpation of functions; profit or extraction of money, securities and public goods; money laundering; and association, according to Saab.
The attorney general also said at least 28 investigations are ongoing in the country against Guaido for a raft of alleged crimes including usurpation of functions, money laundering, terrorism, arms trafficking, and treason.
“Those who at some point believed in this guy and went out to march; they see that they found it to be a vulgar criminal of the worst caliber, robbing and kidnapping.”
CNN contacted Guaido’s team and but his spokesperson declined to comment on the allegations.
However, following the Venezuelan government announcement, Guaido said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he will issue a response Thursday evening via social media.
“This is how the dictatorship machine of promoting lies works: the post-lie to wash its propaganda and physically and morally persecute the Venezuelan opposition (…) The regime attacks again, with one of its favorite weapons, the kidnapping of justice,” Guaido said.
Venezuela is due to hold a presidential vote in 2024, though critics have cast doubt on whether elections can be free and fair in the country’s repressive political climate.
The US, which had long been a supporter of Guaido, has somewhat softened its stance toward Caracas as the region struggles with rising energy costs and hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants.
On Thursday, senior officials in the Biden administration said the US will restart deporting Venezuelans directly to Venezuela in an attempt to curb the record influx of crossings at the US-Mexico border, marking a major shift in policy.
Venezuelans who cross the US-Mexico border unlawfully and lack a legal basis to remain in the US will be eligible for removal, the senior administration officials said, adding that Venezuela had agreed to accept back its nationals.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the new policy “a key piece” of the administration’s approach to migration.