Venezuela attorney general says she is 'under siege'

Venezuela's dissident attorney general yesterday said her offices were "under siege" by troops, as a new loyalist assembly was about to start work to bolster the policies of President Nicolas Maduro and counter his foes.

National guard units were posted at the entries and exits to the prosecutors' building in central Caracas.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

Attorney General Luisa Ortega, who broke ranks with Maduro months ago and has since been a thorn in his side, said on Twitter: "I denounce this arbitrariness to the national and international community."

She did not say where she was on Saturday.

"An aggression against her is an aggression against Venezuelan democracy," the head of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, tweeted.

On Friday, the OAS' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered Venezuela to protect Ortega, saying her life was at risk after she launched an investigation into the legality of the new, all-powerful Constituent Assembly.

Venezuela's government perceives the commission to be under US influence and brushes off its pronouncements.

Maduro's former foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez, who now heads the assembly beginning operation on Saturday, has vowed to immediately go after those deemed to be obstructing government policies.