A Venezuelan opposition leader who had been living in self-imposed exile was arrested on Thursday after returning to his country.
Former governor Manuel Rosales flew into Venezuela after six years as a fugitive from corruption charges. Intelligence police met him at the airport and took him into custody. He was expected to appear in a Caracas court later in the day.
Before his arrest, Rosales vowed to continue fighting the country’s 16-year-old socialist administration and urged Venezuelans to vote in the Dec. 6 legislative elections. Authorities warned him days earlier that he would be detained if he came back.
Photo: AP
Rosales, 63, was governor of the western state of Zulia, where he returned on Thursday. He ran for president in 2006 and lost to Hugo Chavez.
He fled the country in 2009, going to Peru and then Panama after prosecutors accused him of stealing public money. He has said the charges are false and politically motivated.
Polls say the opposition is on track to win the elections, potentially dealing the first decisive ballot box defeat to the socialist party in 16 years.
“Like many in the opposition, Rosales is looking at the polls and the dire state of the country, and thinks 2016 will see the government fall,” Caracas-based political analyst Dimitris Pantoulas said. “He’s coming back now because he wants to be here for that.”
Supporters and other opposition leaders rallied near the airport on Thursday. Venezuela’s main opposition groups immediately began denouncing Rosales’ arrest as arbitrary and called it further evidence of a broken justice system.
Last month, Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for his role in leading anti-government protests last year.
Human rights groups say Lopez is just one of dozens of political prisoners the government has detained for speaking out.
Rosales’ wife, Evelyn Trejo de Rosales, is mayor of Maracaibo, the largest city in Zulia. She told a crowd of supporters that the best way they could show their solidarity would be to vote in December.
“Today Manuel sacrificed his freedom for you, and it was not in vain,” she said. “We will set him free again.”
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was