Venezuelan authorities released a Miami Herald reporter on Saturday after detaining the American two days ago near the border with Colombia, where he was researching a story ahead of next month’s local elections, the paper said.
Jim Wyss was handed unharmed and in good spirits to US diplomats in Caracas, the Herald said.
“I’m very grateful for everybody who worked to help resolve this problem,” Wyss said, according to a story on the newspaper’s Web site. “And I’m thankful to the Venezuelan authorities for helping accelerate this process.”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government, which accuses Western media of fanning an international campaign to destabilize his socialist administration, has not commented on the case.
The Herald said soldiers arrested Wyss on Thursday evening after he sought an interview with military officials in the Andean city of San Cristobal, where he was preparing a story on economic shortages and the Dec. 8 municipal elections.
“Venezuelan authorities said Wyss was taken into custody because he did not have permission to report in the country,” the paper added.
Wyss is based in Bogota, Colombia. He quipped about tight living conditions and his diet of ham sandwiches in the Caracas detention center where he was held.
“It’s like living in a bar with bunkbeds,” he said.
Since winning an election to replace former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in April, Maduro has leveled a stream of accusations of US-inspired plots and sabotage against his socialist administration.
A US filmmaker was held for nearly two months on accusations of spying, while three US diplomats were expelled in September on similar charges. Officials say foreign correspondents are complicit in the “silent war” against him.
The Maduro government is under pressure over Venezuela’s economy, where inflation is running at an annual 54 percent and scarcity of basic goods are common.
The opposition is hoping next month’s nationwide municipal polls will turn into a protest vote against Maduro.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia