Prosecutors link businessman who hosted María Corina Machado in Táchira with an electrical sabotage plan

By Genesis Carrero / Chronicle One

Caracas. Tarek William Saab, the prosecutor appointed by the defunct ANC, confirmed this Friday the Arrest of businessman Ricardo Albacete Vidalwho recently hosted opposition leader María Corina Machado during her visit to Táchira state and linked him to a sabotage plan once morest the National Electric Service (SEN).

At a press conference, he said that it was a plan to “generate anxiety and unrest in the population and then use that unrest politically”in the framework of the presidential elections to be held on July 28.

Saab explained that joint investigations between the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) and the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) concluded that this alleged sabotage would be carried out in the states of Táchira, Mérida and the Capital District.

Raids and arrests

He confirmed the reports of the search of the house and company in Albacete, indicating that on July 9, arrest warrants were requested once morest him and Aldo Roso Vargas. In addition, orders were issued to search three properties in Mérida, Táchira and the Capital District.

He explained that during the raids it was found that the accused citizens “had in their possession a large quantity of strategic material belonging to Corpoelec.”

In the warehouses of the Gurimetal company, located in Palmira, Táchira state, the following materials were found, among others: 20 electrical transformers belonging to Cadafe, 500 kilograms of high voltage cables belonging to the SEN, 50 electrical lightning rods, 250 aluminum ingots weighing 13 kilos each.”the official explained.

The prosecutor said that the items described and other items found during the raid were worth 150,000 dollars and pointed out that intelligence work had determined that the detainees received funding from abroad to “destabilise the country”.

According to the report, Roso Vargas was arrested on July 10 in the parish of El Valle, in Caracas; and Ricardo Albacete was arrested a day later, on Libertador Avenue in Caracas.

Tarek William Saab: Aldo Roso Vargas was arrested this #10Jul in El Valle, in the city of Caracas; while Ricardo Albacete was arrested yesterday #11Jul on Libertador Avenue in Caracas

— Venezuelan Public Prosecutor’s Office (@MinpublicoVEN) July 12, 2024

Workers in limbo

On the followingnoon of Thursday, July 11, members of the DAET and DIP of the Bolivarian National Police raided the company Iteca Gurimetral, located in Pueblo Chiquito, Guásimos municipality, owned by businessman Ricardo Albacete.

There were 29 workers at the site, who remained detained by state security officials until early Friday morning, when they were released.

At night, a police officer asked the employees’ relatives who were outside the company’s headquarters, waiting for news, for food. A group of them were praying at the site.

After being released, the employees do not know what will happen to their jobs, since the company and the home where they are working are hosted María Corina Machado is intervened during her visit to the town.

A pattern?

The NGO Foro Penal reported that in the town of Macanao, in the state of Nueva Esparta, state security forces took over the home where opposition leader María Corina Machado stayed in June, when she visited the state as part of her pre-campaign tour.

#11Jl We are told that the house in Macanao (Nueva Esparta), where he was @MariaCorinaYA On its national tour, it has been taken over by the SEBIN. Days ago, they detained and interrogated the person who was looking following the house. These arbitrary reprisals must cease immediately. pic.twitter.com/ONDUv8JBbT

— Criminal Forum (@ForoPenal) July 12, 2024

According to the NGO, the person in charge of looking following the house had been arrested and interrogated days earlier.

During Machado’s tour of the country, several businesses that provided services to the team and herself were closed due to alleged non-compliance with state authorities.

There have also been reports of arrests of owners of trucks or sound equipment that provide services for the opposition’s events.

The campaign command of candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, backed by Machado, has demanded an end to the persecution of his activists and collaborators.

With information from Maryerlin Villanueva