Venezuelan Opposition Leader Faces Lawsuit in Panama

The right-wing Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is facing a class-action lawsuit after Machado addressed the Organization of American States as Panama’s official representative to the regional body regarding civil unrest in Venezuela.  

“A group of organizations have filed a lawsuit against Maria Corina Machado for having usurped a public Panamanian post,” Panamanian Professor and Union Leader Olmedo Beluche stated.

According to Panamanian law, appointing a non-Panamanian citizen as ambassador is a criminal offense subject to harsh legal penalties, Beluche added. 

In March, Congresswoman Machado was expelled from the National Assembly on the grounds that she forfeited her right as an assembly member after making declarations as a representative of the Panamanian government. 

The announcement coincides with the upcoming Summit of the Americas, where regional heads of state will meet in Panama City April 10 and 11. 

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Venezuela's public prosecutor told Machado in December that she would be charged for her involvement in an alleged plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.

During a coup that temporarily ousted former President Hugo Chavez in 2002, Machado was one of the signatories to the “Carmona Decree,” which dissolved the Supreme Court and suspended the attorney general, comptroller general, and all elected officials in the country. The decree was the manifesto of the short-lived coup, which also declared business leader Pedro Carmona de facto head of state.

Machado claimed she signed the political document by accident while paying a visit to the presidential palace at the height of the coup. Later, she said she believed it was a sign-in sheet, not a declaration of the overthrow of the government.

In June 2013, Machado was accused of involvement in another plot. Those allegations stemmed from a leaked audio recording that her critics said showed she was part of a conspiracy to overthrow President Maduro.

In November of the same year, journalist Eva Golinger accused Machado of being part of an international plan to promote violence in Venezuela's streets.

“Foreign interests, from Colombia and the U.S., are working with opposition groups inside Venezuela to destabilize (Maduro's) government, aiming towards sabotaging the upcoming December 8 municipal elections,” she told the news website Venezuelanalysis.com.