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"They kidnapped @ROBERTOMARRERO, boss of my office. He reported loudly that they planted (they intentionally put in his house) two rifles and a grenade, "said Guaidó on Twitter, while demanding that the politician be" released immediately. "
Marrero was arrested at dawn by agents of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin) after raids on his residence and that of opposition deputy Sergio Vergara, who lives nearby, in the capital area of Las Mercedes.
According to Guaidó, head of the opposition-majority parliament, the procedure began at 02:00 local time (0600 GMT) and the whereabouts of his collaborator is unknown. Guaidó himself was arrested on January 13 and released after an hour.
"At this moment they are entering the house of Deputy Vergara and to my house a strong group of the Sebin are knocking down the wall," Marrero said in an audio tape recorded during the operation and broadcast on social networks. In the background you hear blows.
When they took him prisoner "he shouted to me that they had put two rifles and a grenade. They (the officials of the Sebin) sent him to silence and I told him that he had a lot of strength, "Vergara told reporters....
Condemnation of the USA
The Secretary of State of the United States, Mike Pompeo, condemned the event and demanded the "immediate release" of Marrero. "We will demand responsibility from those involved," Pompeo said on Twitter.
Washington leads the group of nations that recognize Guaidó as the chief executive, after being sworn in at the end of January after Congress declared that socialist President Nicolás Maduro usurps the charge for having been re-elected fraudulently.
Vergara said that during the search about 15 agents put him face down and "violated" his home, while asking him about the location of Marrero, a lawyer who has worked in the National Assembly (Parliament).
Two prosecutors were present during the operation that lasted two hours, he added.
"They began to hit the house of Roberto Marrero, who is a few meters from my door, until they managed to enter," he said. A driver who works for the Legislative was also arrested.
"The dictatorship continues to kidnap the citizens," said Vergara, who said he reminded the agents that he has parliamentary immunity.
Last January, the government of Maduro broadcast a video of a supposed secret meeting between the powerful ruling party leader Diosdado Cabello, Guaidó and Marrero.
After denying initially that the meeting had taken place, the legislative head downplayed it.
Hundreds of "political prisoners"
According to the NGO Foro Penal, in Venezuela there are about 866 "political prisoners", of which 91 are military and 775 civilians.
Marrero's arrest further stirred the waters of the turbulent Venezuelan crisis, which is advancing towards a new peak with Guaidó's warning that he will soon march with his supporters to the presidential palace of Miraflores, in Caracas, to take office.
But Cabello, number two of Chavez and president of the ruling Constituent Assembly, has warned that Maduro's forces will not tolerate Miraflores "becoming again the palace of the oligarchy's business."
As part of his plans to go to Miraflores, Guaidó organizes a national mobilization and for this he undertook a tour of several states last Saturday.
In his offensive against Maduro he does not rule out asking the Legislative to authorize a foreign military intervention.
Washington, its most fervent ally, does not exclude an armed action to get Maduro out, who has proposed to strangle economically with sanctions such as an oil embargo that will take effect on April 28.
However, Guaidó recognizes that before he must have the Armed Forces "fully aligned", his biggest challenge because until now the military leadership remains loyal to Maduro.
During the government of the socialist leader, started in 2013, Venezuela fell into the worst socio-economic crisis in its modern history with hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicine.
