By Vivian Sequera and Mayela Armas
CARACAS (Reuters) -One of the six Venezuelan opposition staffers who have been living at the Argentine diplomatic residence in Caracas has turned himself into the attorney general’s office, a judicial source and another source with knowledge of the matter said.
The staffers have been at the residence since warrants were issued for their arrests in March, part of what the opposition says is a fierce government crackdown on dissent before, during and after a disputed July election, which both President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition claim to have won.
Fernando Martinez Mottola, an advisor to opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who herself is in hiding, came to the attorney general’s office voluntarily, the judicial source said late on Thursday. The opposition considers the office an instrument of Maduro.
Martinez is at his own home, the source with knowledge of the matter said late on Thursday, without giving further details.
Martinez and five others have been accused of conspiracy.
The Argentine residence is currently under Brazilian custody after Buenos Aires cut relations with Caracas over the election dispute.
Maduro was declared the winner by electoral authorities and the country’s top court, though authorities have not offered ballot box level tallies of the votes.
The opposition published ballot box tallies on a public website which it says show its contender, Edmundo Gonzalez, handily won the contest. Gonzalez has since fled to Spain.
Argentina granted asylum and safe passage to the six opposition members following the warrants, but Venezuela’s government has not allowed them to leave.
Colombia’s foreign minister has said negotiations are taking place to try to ensure safe passage for the six, but Ecuador this week said it would not allow its former vice president Jorge Glas, an ally of Maduro, to leave jail, where he is serving a corruption sentence, as part of a deal.
Venezuela’s opposition, a number of Western countries and some international organizations have decried the election as non-transparent and have called for the full publication of ballots, with some parties openly labeling the process fraudulent.
The government says the opposition has conspired with countries like the United States to attack Venezuela’s power grid and overthrow Maduro and regularly accuses Machado of terrorism.
Brazil, whose President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has gradually increased his criticism of Maduro since the election, pledged when it took over management of the Argentine residence that it would look after the six.
(Reporting by Vivian Sequera and Mayela ArmasWriting by Julia Symmes Cobb)
