 Partly as a result, the United Nations' Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in September 2009 declared Cedeño's detention arbitrary.Cedeño's lawyers allege that he became a target of the Chávez government, as a consequence of his support for political opponents of Chávez.In addition to providing financial support to politicians, he provided assistance to union leader Carlos Ortega and columnist Patricia Poleo, both of whom would later be forced to flee Venezuela and seek political asylum.