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Opposition Leader Immediately Arrested Upon Returning To Venezuela

Manuel Rosales lost to former President Hugo Chavez in elections in 2006 and left the country in 2009 accused of corruption. He knew returning to Venezuela would almost certainly put him in jail.
Photo by Jhair Torres/AP

Former presidential candidate Manuel Rosales is now in jail after voluntarily returning to Venezuela following six years in exile and knowing he would almost certainly be arrested.

Rosales was detained on Thursday as soon as his plane landed in the city of Maracaibo in the populous state of Zulia where he served as governor between 2000 and 2008. Hundreds of supporters who had gathered to welcome him were left waiting as he was transferred to another plane by police and then flown to the capital, Caracas.

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The founder of the New Era party stood as the opposition's candidate in Venezuela's 2006 presidential elections.  He was roundly beaten by then president Hugo Chávez who won with 62 percent of the vote, while Rosales obtained 36 percent.

Related: Saintly Hugo Chavez Replaces God in Socialist Lord's Prayer

Rosales won elections to be mayor of Maracaibo in December 2008, but was charged shortly after with having income he could not explain during his period as governor. He fled the country in 2009 before the first hearing of his trial, accusing Chávez — who had called him a "thief" and threatened to wipe him off the national political map — of a political vendetta.

Living in Peru and Panama ever since Rosales did, indeed, fall off the political radar until he announced his imminent return to Venezuela on social media last week.

Now the 62-year-old joins several other opposition figures who have been jailed by Chávez's successor Nicolás Maduro.

They include Leopoldo López who was arrested in February 2014 at a time when he was the most prominent figurehead of a series of anti-government protests in which dozens of people died. Last month López was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison after being founding guilty of inciting violence during those demonstrations.

Venezuela's Crisis Talks Stall as Protests Erupt Again

The authorities have now made it clear they will be returning to the corruption case againt Rosales that was interrupted by his exile

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The former candidate avoided clearly answering questions about why he had decided to return to Venezuela and almost certain arrest in a TV interview recorded shortly before he flew.

"I have a great historical responsibility," he told CNN en Español. "Venezuela is heading for chaos, Venezuela is breaking up into pieces…We have to take steps forward, running the risks that we have to run."

Rosales did, however, specify that he hoped to encourage Venezuelans to vote in the December 6 parliamentary elections — the first since President Maduro was elected in 2013.

Expectations of an opposition victory are high as public discontent with the Maduro government gathers in the midst of a severe economic crisis that includes medicine shortages and exorbitant prices for basic supplies. President Maduro has blamed the crisis on low international oil prices, as well as destabilizing forces within powerful economic groups

Political analyst Guillermo Tell Aveledo, professor at the Central University of Venezuela, told VICE News that Rosales may be hoping that an opposition victory in the congressional poll could shorten his detention.

Tell added that Rosales's voluntary transformation from exile to inmate may be motivated by the desire to grab back the political spotlight he left behind when he left the country.

"If presidential elections were going to happen anytime soon, he might want to be on the list," the analyst said.

Siento un nudo en la garganta y el corazón se me salta! Rumbo a mi tierra bella — Manuel Rosales (@manuelrosalesg)October 15, 2015

Shortly before departing for Venezuela from Aruba, Rosales tweeted a picture of himself boarding the plane waving a Venezuelan flag. "I feel a lump in my throat and my heart jumps!" he wrote. "On my way to by beautiful homeland."

Related: Basic Medications — and Breast Implants — in Short Supply in Deepening Venezuela Crisis

Follow Alicia Hernandez on Twitter @por_puesto