A Venezuelan court has opened a trial against nine people accused of attempting to kidnap the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, in order to extradite him to the United States. They are accused of, among other things, treason, organization of armed forces and arms trade.
The trial began on March 4 at the 2nd Monagas control room led by Judge Luis Cabezas. The nine suspects are detained in the Oriente Penitentiary Center (La Pica), the official Venezuelan portal Ultimas Noticias reports.
During the hearing, four of the nine suspects took the floor, denying the prosecution’s allegations and demanding clarification of the facts.
The defendants have been identified as Luis Eduardo Villarroel Caña, Carlos Alejandro Pérez Farías, César Horacio Belfort Rojas, Daniel Enrique Aguilera Gutiérrez, Víctor José Farías Quijada, Francisco José Marcano Benavides, Enrique Naurix Parada, Gabriel Andrés Medina and José Ramón Cruz Marcano.
The nine were arrested in April 2020. Two months later, the prosecutor, Ingrid Dioselina Bermúdez Bolívar, asked the Monagas 2nd Control Court to open a trial against the nine suspects.
The prosecution states in the accusing letter that Luis Villarroel received a message on his cell phone informing him of a plan to kidnap the then President of the National Constituent Assembly, Diosdado Cabello. The purpose of the kidnapping was to enforce the $ 10 million reward offered by the United States Department of Justice on March 26, 2020 to those providing information that led to Cabello’s arrest.