On Saturday, del Valle Rodriguez came to the Chilean diplomatic mission requesting for protection. The judge received a guest status.
"This evening two more guests came to the Chilean residence in Caracas in search for protection — Beatriz Ruiz and Jose Fdo Nunez. They are asking for asylum," Munoz said on Tuesday on his Twitter account.
Venezuela plunged into turmoil in January 2016, when a new opposition-dominated legislature was elected, and relations between President Nicolas Maduro and the parliament became strained.
In March, the Venezuelan Supreme Court decided to absorb the legislative powers of the state’s parliament. While the decision was immediately reversed amid backlash, supporters of the opposition-controlled legislative body, who strive for the dismissal of the court's justices, took to the streets in early April.
In July, Maduro promised to incarcerate all the judges of the court, who were sworn in by the country's parliament. The parliament has appointed a total of 13 judges and 20 their assistants. Soon after Maduro's statement at least three judges have been detained, while the court itself delegitimized the parliament-appointed judges.
