MEXICO CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st October, 2018) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has replaced the head of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez, media reported on Wednesday.
According to the El Tiempo media outlet, the intelligence service will be headed by Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, who was an adjutant of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Gonzalez Lopez was included in January in the list of persons targeted by EU sanctions over alleged involvement in "serious human rights violations" such as arbitrary detention, inhuman and degrading treatment, as well as torture. Both Gonzalez Lopez and Cristopher Figuera are also subjects to lawsuits filed to the International Criminal Court (ICC). They are accused of human rights violations and oppression of the opposition.
Venezuela has been engulfed in a deep political crisis caused by the severe economic difficulties amid the oil prices decline.
