The Venezuelan Congress wants prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into Maria Corina Machado, a 46-year-old congresswoman and opposition leader who has become one of the most prominent faces behind the protests that have been sweeping the country for six weeks.
Members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, led by President Nicolas Maduro, asked the Attorney General to launch a criminal probe to determine whether Machado committed treason and other crimes on Tuesday.
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The Venezuelan government is going after Machado a month after taking another prominent opposition face out of the spotlight. On Feb. 21, Leopoldo Lopez, a former mayor who launched the opposition movement “The Exit” earlier this year with Machado, turned himself in after the government accused him of murder and terrorism for the deaths of three people in the big protests of Feb. 12.
The National Assembly, Venezuela's Congress, gathered on Tuesday to form a "Truth Commission" tasked with investigating the protests and assess whether someone should be held responsible for it.
But the session was interrupted when Tania Diaz, a congresswoman for the Socialist Party, asked for an urgent motion to establish whether any parliament members — implicitly referring to Machado — were committing crimes related to the protest, as reported by the Spanish newspaper El Pais.
The president of the National Assembly and Maduro's right-hand man, Diosdado Cabello, suspended the session; several Socialist Congress members marched to the Attorney General's headquarters to formally request an inquiry into Machado's actions. This request, El Pais notes, is the necessary first step to suspend Machado's parliamentary immunity, something that would open up the door for a criminal investigation.
"We will not permit impunity. We will ensure revenge for those deaths. We will ensure these deaths will be paid for," Diaz said, according to Reuters. "Anyone who violates the right to life is violating the constitution."
Cabello echoed Diaz's words, stating that the Venezuelan laws "will reach Maria Machado."
"If we want peace, there must be justice," he later tweeted.
A cada conspiración contra la Patria la respuesta será mas radicalización de la Revolución Bolivariana, si queremos Paz debe haber Justicia
— Diosdado Cabello R (@dcabellor) March 19, 2014
During the parliament session, Machado sat "stone-faced" as other members chanted "justice, justice." She later held a press conference, which was live streamed on YouTube.
"I'm convinced that this attack against me is the product of a regime that's terrified by an unprecedented citizens' movement," she said defiantly.
Machado also reaffirmed her commitment to the protests on Twitter. "I called and accompanied the peaceful protests in Venezuela and I will keep doing it. I feel proud of what we the Venezuelans are doing," she wrote.
He convocado y acompañado la protesta pacífica en Vzla y lo seguiré haciendo!!Me siento orgullosa de lo que estamos haciendo los venezolanos
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) March 18, 2014
Lopez is currently still imprisoned; the government dropped the murder and terrorism charges, but he is still accused of arson and conspiracy. Machado might face prison if she is convicted of treason and the other crimes that Maduro's supporters accuse her of.
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