Venezuela arrests security chief for opposition leader days ahead of presidential vote

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Officials in Venezuela have arrested the head of security for the country’s top opposition leader, a little more than a week before President Nicolás Maduro faces a tough reelection. Former lawmaker and opposition powerhouse María Corina Machado said that Milciades Ávila was arrested early Wednesday on what she said were trumped up charges of violence against women. The accusation stems from a heated incident over the weekend when, according to videos posted on social media, a group of Maduro supporters began trading insults with Machado’s aides at a roadside restaurant on their way home from a campaign event outside Caracas.