Mexico City - The Venezuelan opposition is trying to freeze
Swiss bank accounts held by Venezuelan officials after "irregular
movements" were discovered, self-declared interim president Juan
Guaido said Wednesday.
Guaido told Mexican broadcaster Televisa he had discussed the matter
with Swiss President Ueli Maurer on the phone.
He said there had been attempts to "irregularly" move funds to
private bank accounts, adding: "[We] are trying to freeze all those
assets, which belong to the republic."
Guaido, who is demanding that President Nicolas Maduro step down, has
been trying to get control over Venezuelan assets abroad.
Maduro, however, is holding on to power and rejects plans by the
US-backed opposition to bring humanitarian aid into the country,
which is suffering from widespread food and medicine shortages.
Maduro says Venezuela needs no aid and that such plans are a plot to
stage a US military intervention and to oust him from power.
Venezuela on Tuesday closed air and sea routes to aid transport hub
Curacao and to fellow Dutch islands Aruba and Bonaire.
The outcome of the stand-off is expected to depend on the army, which
has so far sided with Maduro, but which the opposition is trying to
persuade to let the aid through.
The commander of the US Southern Command warned the Venezuelan army
that it will be "held accountable" for its actions.
"Do the right thing," Craig Faller said on a video posted on Twitter
by the television channel TV Venezuela Noticias on Wednesday. "Save
your people and your country."