Edgar José Zambrano Ramírez (born 20 July 1955) is a Venezuelan lawyer and politician that currently serves as a

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

deputy for the

Lara state Lara State ( es, Estado Lara, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Barquisimeto. Lara State covers a total surface area of and, in 2015, had a census population of 2,019,211. Toponymy The state is named after a notable ...

. From January 5, 2019 to January 5, 2020, he served as First Vice President of the Assembly. He was President of the Permanent Defense and Security Parliamentary Commission between 2016 and 2018. He is the vice president of the opposition political party Democratic Action.

Opposition figure

Within the opposition, Zambrano "is seen as a conciliatory figure" close to

Henry Ramos Allup Henry Lisandro Ramos Allup (born 17 October 1943) is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer and former President of the National Assembly who was born in Valencia, Carabobo, Valencia, Carabobo. He has been leader of the social democracy, social democr ...

.No. 2 Venezuelan opposition leader Edgar Zambrano arrested in his car by Maduro's agents
CBS News (May 9, 2019). During the

Venezuelan presidential crisis The Venezuelan presidential crisis is an ongoing political crisis concerning the leadership and the legitimate president of Venezuela; the office of the president has been contested since 10 January 2019, with the nation and the world divided ...

, he has been working as an aide to interim president

Juan Guaidó Juan Gerardo Guaidó Márquez (born 28 July 1983) is a Venezuelan politician, a former member of the Social democracy, social-democratic Popular Will party, and federal deputy to the National Assembly (Venezuela), National Assembly representing ...

, as part of a power-sharing agreement among the largest opposition parties.

Arrest and detention

In May 2019, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, which is allied with

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019. Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade unio ...

, ordered the prosecution of seven National Assembly members for their actions during the failed uprising against Maduro, including Zambrano, on charges of "betraying the homeland" and "instigating an insurrection" during the uprising. On 8 May 2019, Zambrano was arrested in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

by a heavily armed commando unit of the

SEBIN The Bolivarian National Intelligence Service ( es, Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional, SEBIN) is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela. SEBIN is an internal security force subordinate to the Vice President of Venezuela since 201 ...

intelligence service, who surrounded Zambrano's car and towed it away with Zambrano inside. The day before the arrest, the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, stripped Zambrano and the six other opposition legislators of

parliamentary immunity Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which politicians such as president, vice president, governor, lieutenant governor, member of parliament, member of legislative assembly, member of legislative council, s ...

, a move that the opposition regards as illegitimate.Senior Opposition Leader Allied With Guaidó Is Arrested In Venezuela
NPR (May 9, 2019). The Venezuelan opposition, the

Lima Group The Lima Group (GL; Spanish and pt, links=yes, Grupo de Lima, French: Groupe de Lima) is a multilateral body that was established following the Lima Declaration on 8 August 2017 in the Peruvian capital of Lima, where representatives of 12 cou ...

of twelve Latin American nations plus

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, and the United States all condemned Zambrano's detention as

arbitrary Arbitrariness is the quality of being "determined by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle". It is also used to refer to a choice made without any specific criterion or restraint. Arbitrary decisions are not necess ...

and an unconstitutional violation of his parliamentary immunity. Guaidó called the arrest a

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

.Deputy of Venezuela's Guaido Arrested and Dragged Away by Tow Truck
Reuters (May 9, 2019).

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

Secretary-General

Luis Almagro Luis Leonardo Almagro Lemes (; born June 1, 1963) is a Uruguayan lawyer, diplomat, and politician who currently serves as the 10th Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS). He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs bet ...

said: "We demand the SEBIN stop the intimidation, respect the lawmakers' parliamentary immunities, and immediately release Edgar Zambrano." The

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

(OHCHR), directed by former president of Chile,

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...

, demanded the "immediate release" of Zambrano. After four months of arrest, Zambrano was freed on 18 September. Forbidden to leave the country, Zambrano's case remains open and he must report to a judge every month. In the words of Juan Guaidó, the release is the result of popular pressure and the report of Michelle Bachelet, and not a "kind gesture from the dictatorship" of

Personal life

His parents are José de los Santos Zambrano and Lucila de Zambrano, and he has two sisters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zambrano, Edgar 1955 births Living people People from Barquisimeto Members of the National Assembly (Venezuela) Democratic Action (Venezuela) politicians People of the Crisis in Venezuela Venezuelan prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Venezuela Enforced disappearances in Venezuela