Venezuelan Police Arrest Central Bank Workers Who Met With Guaido

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela’s intelligence police at dawn Friday detained two central bank employees who met with opposition leader Juan Guaido, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The agency known as Sebin detained Deny Albujar and Manuel Giuseppe, the person said. Albujar and Giuseppe are project coordinators, helping develop the bank’s headquarters in Bolivar state, and are also officials of the bank workers union.

Central bank and government press officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Guaido, who is trying to topple authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro, has called on public workers to rise up. Albujar, Giuseppe and two other bank employees met with Guaido on Monday at the National Assembly, which he heads.

In past weeks, Guaido has encouraged strikes and said he would propose a law to protect public workers, who he says have been “hijacked by the dictatorship." Guaido is recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate leader by the U.S., Brazil and dozens of other countries. Maduro still commands the loyalty of much of Venezuela’s government apparatus and military, as well as support from nations including Russia and Turkey.

Venezuela’s central bank, headed by Calixto Ortega, has been operating with an emergency team of only about 100 workers since a power outage left its headquarters without running water. The emergency group has been working from a library with the help of water tanks, focusing on vital tasks such as transactions between local banks and reserves.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Laya in Caracas at playa2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Stephen Merelman, Paula Dwyer

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