\n<\/p>\n
The Venezuelan authorities said on Thursday that they were seeking the arrest of Juan Guaid\u00f3<\/a>, the former opposition leader who is in exile in the United States.<\/p>\n Attorney General Tarek William Saab said Venezuela\u2019s Public Ministry had requested a warrant for Mr. Guaid\u00f3\u2019s arrest. He said Mr. Guaid\u00f3 had used the resources of the state-owned oil company, Petr\u00f3leos de Venezuela, for his own benefit, claiming that his actions had cost the Venezuelan government $19 billion.<\/p>\n Mr. Guaid\u00f3 denied the accusations on social media<\/a>, saying that \u201cthis is how the dictatorship\u2019s machine for promoting lies works.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Guaid\u00f3 became the face of the resistance to Venezuela\u2019s authoritarian government during large-scale protests in 2019, when he took the helm of the legislature, declared President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro an illegitimate ruler and appointed himself the country\u2019s interim leader<\/a>, a bold move backed by the United States and dozens of other nations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But as he failed to make progress toward dislodging Mr. Maduro, his support waned at home and overseas. Last year, his colleagues in the opposition dissolved his interim government<\/a>.<\/p>\n