Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said that opposition members have a "group of hitmen" seeking to "harm" him as the July elections, the most significant challenge to his power in about a decade, approach.
Speaking during a TV appearance, Maduro singled out some of the country's top opposition leaders, including María Corina Machado, who was set to be the presidential candidate but was banned by the government-friendly Supreme Court from doing so. She has thrown her weight behind Edmundo González Urrutia, who was allowed to sign up and has since taken a commanding lead in the polls.
