Venezuela’s top prosecutor’s office under siege

The office of Venezuela’s top prosecutor has come under siege by troops as a political crisis over the establishment of a new constitutional assembly deepens in the South American country.

Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz said in a message posted on Twitter on Saturday that troops had surrounded her office in downtown Caracas.

Ortega Diaz published photos apparently taken from security cameras showing dozens of guards deployed in riot gear outside the headquarters. Reports said police had also imposed a lockdown in areas surrounding the office and access was completely restricted.

A longtime loyalist of the government, the prosecutor has turned an arch critic and has repeatedly censured a recent popular vote for the setting up of an all-powerful pro-government national assembly, which has vowed to debate removing opponents, including Ortega Diaz, only in its second session on Saturday.

Venezuela’s opposition, backed by governments in the region, boycotted the constitutional assembly elections on July 30, saying it was a ploy to consolidate power in the hands of President Nicolas Maduro. The president and followers say the move had been necessary to restore peace in Venezuela, a country rocked by months of violence which has killed over 120 people.

SS