Venezuelan Attorney General summons Guaido

Venezuela's Attorney General on Tuesday summoned opposition leader Juan Guaidó to testify in an alleged plot against President Nicolás Maduro.

Guaidó, who has been recognized as interim president of Venezuela by almost 60 countries, was summoned to appear Thursday to respond to the allegations made by retired Major General Cliver Alcalá Cordones whom Tarek William Saab, Venezuela's Attorney General named on national television when announcing the summons.

Cordones, gave himself up last weekend to agents of The DEA, and transferred him to the United States after being accused, along with Maduro and other collaborators, of turning Venezuela into a criminal emporium at the service of drug traffickers and terrorists.

A former military collaborator of the late President Hugo Chávez who distanced himself from the ruling party due to differences with Maduro, Alcalá Cordones, admitted that he coordinated the purchase and transfer of a shipment of weapons, which included 26 assault rifles, which was seized last week in the northern Colombia.

Guaidó's team said he has never met the retired general, who subsequently surrendered to officials and was taken to the U.S. from his home in Colombia where he had lived since 2018 despite having been previously sanctioned by the U.S. for drug smuggling.

The Venezuelan authorities declared that the weapons were to be used to attack Maduro and other government figures and generate violent acts.

The announcement by the Attorney General in Caracas was made as the Trump administration made a proposal to lift crippling sanctions on Venezuela in support of a new proposal to form a transitional government requiring both Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaidó to step aside in favor of a five-person governing council, U.S. officials said.

The one-page "Democratic Transition Framework for Venezuela" was presented Tuesday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

It echoes a proposal made over the weekend by Guaidó that shows how growing concerns about the coronavirus, which threatens to overwhelm the South American country's already collapsed health system and economy, are reviving U.S. attempts to pull the military apart from Maduro.