A move to arrest a prominent opposition leader sent thousands of anti-government protesters into the streets of the Venezuela’s second-largest city on Friday, accusing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of launching a new attack against his critics.
The protest came after a prosecutor called for the arrest of Mayor Manuel Rosales, a prominent Chavez opponent who has been accused of corruption.
Rosales told the crowd: “There is no justice in Venezuela ... But we will continue fighting.”
Critics said Chavez and his allies were leading a two-pronged offensive by persecuting opponents and increasing presidential power by putting all airports, highways and seaports under federal control. Several key ports were previously administered by Chavez opponents.
Chavez won a key vote last month that eliminated term limits.
He has warned governors that they could be arrested if they try to resist the new law bringing transportation hubs under national control.
“The persecution of the opposition is beginning, and I’m sure that Rosales won’t be the last to go to jail,” opposition leader Oscar Perez said.
Chavez denied persecuting opponents for political reasons and has called for Rosales to be jailed on corruption allegations stemming from the mayor’s 2002 to 2004 term as governor of Zulia state.
The attorney general’s office said the case against Rosales was based on a 2007 report by the country’s comptroller general, the leading anti-corruption authority, that found Rosales received funds “he could not justify.”
Analyst Luis Vicente Leon said some of Chavez’s actions appeared aimed at instilling fear in his foes.
“He’s sending the message that he’s capable of going against anybody — no matter how strong you are,” said Leon, a Caracas-based economist and pollster.
Some critics were also alarmed by the socialist leader’s efforts to clamp down with more state control over the economy as the effects of the world economic meltdown begin to set in — compounded by low prices for Venezuelan oil, which provides 94 percent of export earnings.
Chavez has been playing hardball to try to get private companies to produce more price-controlled items as required under strict new regulations aimed at containing inflation. He ordered the expropriation of a rice plant owned by Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc earlier this month and warned major food producer Empresas Polar that it could be taken over if it does not obey the new regulations.
Chavez was to announce economic measures yesterday to help cope with the global crisis.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS