US slams Venezuela ban on oppn leader
CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan 28, (AP): The US government and nearly 30 conservative world leaders on Saturday condemned the decision of Venezuela’s highest court to block the presidential candidacy of opposition leader María Corina Machado.
The Biden administration, however, remained noncommittal about reimposing economic sanctions on Venezuela, which it has threatened to do if the government of President Nicolás Maduro failed to ensure a level playing field for the country’s presidential election this year.
“The United States is currently reviewing our Venezuela sanctions policy, based on this development and the recent political targeting of democratic opposition candidates and civil society,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Machado won a presidential primary held in October by the faction of the opposition backed by the US. She secured more than 90% of the vote despite the Venezuelan government announcing a 15-year ban on her running for office just days after she formally entered the race in June.
The former lawmaker and longtime government foe was able to participate in the primary because the election was organized by a commission independent of Venezuela’s electoral authorities. Machado insisted throughout the campaign that she never received official notification of the ban and said voters, not rulingparty loyalists, were the rightful decision-makers of her candidacy.
Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice on Friday upheld the ban, which was based on alleged fraud and tax violations, and accuses Machado of seeking the economic sanctions the US imposed on Venezuela.
The ruling came more than three months after Maduro and the US-backed opposition reached a deal to work on basic conditions for a fair election. The two sides agreed to hold the election in the second half of 2024, invite international electoral observers, and create a process for aspiring presidential candidates to appeal their bans.
The deal led Washington to ease some economic sanctions on Venezuela’s oil, gas and mining sectors.
Commitments
Miller said Friday’s decision from Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice “runs contrary to the commitments made by Maduro and his representatives” under the agreement signed in October on the Caribbean island of Barbados. He said the appeal process “lacked basic elements, as Machado neither received a copy of the allegations against her nor was afforded the opportunity to respond to those allegations.”
Gerardo Blyde, the chief negotiator for the opposition group known as the Unitary Platform, said Saturday that the court’s ruling violates the Barbados accord. He asked for backing from the international community, specifically the presidents of France, Emmanuel Macron; of Brazil, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, and of Colombia, Gustavo Petro - all of whom have supported the negotiation process.
Blyde also urged Maduro’s allies to reverse the court’s decision, arguing it constitutes a “violation of due process and the right to due defense” of Machado, who was never granted an opportunity to defend herself.
But Hector Rodríguez, a governor and member of Maduro’s negotiating delegation, told reporters that Venezuela’s government has followed the terms of the accord and plans to hold the presidential election this year. He added that the court’s decision is a thing of the past in the eyes of his delegation.
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The association is trying to counter the growing global movement driven by animal defenders who seek to abolish bullfighting, which they consider torture of bulls.
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The four policemen belonged to the municipal police force of the city of Celaya. The police department said the officers died late Wednesday on a rural road near Celaya.
The identity of the attackers was not immediately clear, but Celaya has long been the scene of attacks and fighting between the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco drug cartel.
Celaya is one of the most violent cities in Guanajuato, a state which itself has the highest number of homicides in the country.
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The incident occurred late on Wednesday in the coastal town of Yauco, where the bodies of the man’s former girlfriend, 30, her brother, 28 and their mother, 51, were found inside a house.
Police said they later found the body of 33-year-old Wilfredo Hiram Santiago, who is suspected of killing the three, at his brother’s home in the same town.
Police told local media that Santiago had a criminal record involving previous unrelated cases of domestic violence, and that the former girlfriend he killed had a restraining order against him.
Police said the former girlfriend, Linnette Morales, has two young children who were not home at the time of the shooting.