Everyone should have seen this one coming from a mile away. Now that the tyrant Nicolas Maduro has secured absolute power in Venezuela and begun rounding up his political opponents on charges of “treason,” it wasn’t going to be long before more abuses took place.

As it turns out, “not long” was only a matter of days. One of Maduro’s most high profile critics, Leopoldo Lopez, has been in prison on and off for several years now. After a brief period of being released to house arrest, he was scooped up yet again after the elected government in Venezuela was disbanded and tossed back in a cell. His wife, Lilian Tintori, has been lobbying to have him released (or at least be given regular updates on his condition) and was scheduled to travel to Europe to meet with various foreign leaders and human rights groups in an effort to bring attention to her husband’s plight.

Those travel plans are now on hold, perhaps indefinitely, since Maduro ordered her passport to be seized at the airport and she is forbidden to leave the country. (Associated Press)

A prominent anti-government activist was barred from leaving Venezuela on Saturday for planned meetings with European leaders, dealing a setback to opposition attempts to rally international pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

Lilian Tintori posted a photo on Twitter of herself at Caracas’ international airport holding a document signed by immigration officials ordering the seizure of her passport as she was preparing to board an afternoon flight. Tintori said she had a meeting planned for Monday in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron.

No explanation for the travel ban was given, but the move came a day after she was ordered to appear before a judge Tuesday to answer questions about a large sum of cash found in her vehicle.

The government has cooked up some charges against Tintori based on finding approximately $10,000 worth of local currency in her car. Her argument is that there’s no law against carrying cash and no banks will offer credit or checking accounts to someone who will probably wind up in prison any moment.

Still, the intent here is both obvious and sinister. Maduro’s government doesn’t want Tintori going around the rest of the world and highlighting the many human rights abuses taking place in the now totalitarian dictatorship which is Venezuela. To that end, they will block any prominent activists from leaving the country until (most likely) they can find enough dungeon cells to lock them all up.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. As I said, Maduro has already begun lining up charges of treason against members of the opposition party. His former Attorney General who fled the country just as the final collapse was taking place has already reported that the tyrant sent hit men to attempt to murder her in Costa Rica.

There is no semblance of a rule of law remaining in Venezuela, to say nothing of a hint of democracy. This train wreck has been on the way for more than a year now. We all saw it coming but apparently nothing could be done to stop it. This is how socialism always ends and it’s ending with a bang in Venezuela. You should pray for the people of Maduro’s nation because they are facing a dark and violent future.