CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado yesterday vowed to fight an expected indictment alleging she was involved in a plot to kill President Nicolas Maduro, calling the charges an attempt to silence critics of the socialist government.
The state prosecutor’s office on Wednesday said Machado would be charged in a hearing on Dec. 3 with involvement in the plan. Maduro’s adversaries have pilloried the alleged assassination plot as a charade based on fabricated evidence.
Machado, 47, a former legislator and high-profile adversary of the government, said she had no plans to leave the country and insisted she would be present for the hearing.
“I’ll be there for my children, I’ll be there for your children … I’ll be there for Venezuela,” she said at a press conference, flanked by cheering supporters.
Asked if she expected to be detained, she responded, “It is obvious that there is no crime. How could they detain me?”
The Socialist Party has frequently made accusations about opponents without providing strong evidence, and late President Hugo Chavez often denounced assassination plots that did not yield arrests or prosecutions.