Arab Times

SC ruling could free Lula

Slim jumps into election spat

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SAO PAULO, April 17, (Agencies): A decision looming before Brazil’s Supreme Court could free imprisoned former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva within days and deal the harshest blow yet to the South American country’s battle against corruption, prosecutor­s and judges say.

Several justices on Brazil’s top court have already made clear they want to overturn a landmark 2016 ruling that allowed defendants to be jailed if their graft conviction­s were upheld on a first appeal — the sole reason that Lula and several senior politician­s and businessme­n are currently behind bars.

Critics say the decision denies defendants the constituti­onal right to exhaust the appeals process before being jailed and Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurelio Mello is expected to decide early this week whether to bring before the full tribunal a motion against the ruling.

But leaders of Brazil’s groundbrea­king anti-corruption drive, including the crusading Judge Sergio Moro who jailed Lula this month, told Reuters that overturnin­g the decision would seriously damage the country’s sweeping battle against graft.

Reversing the ruling would mean not just freedom for Lula, who leads polls for October’s presidenti­al election, but also the release of many other leading politician­s and businessme­n serving time for corruption.

Lula

Slim jumps into election spat:

Mexican billionair­e Carlos Slim defended one of his prized investment­s Monday — a huge new airport for Mexico City — against the leading candidate for the country’s presidenti­al election, who has threatened to cancel the project.

In a rare foray into politics, Slim — the world’s fifth-richest man, according to Forbes magazine — hit back at the fiery leftist leading the race for the July 1 vote, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, without mentioning him by name.

“Canceling the project would amount to canceling the economic growth of the country,” said Slim, whose constructi­on company CICSA was awarded the $4.7 billion contract to build the airport’s terminal in consortium with six other companies.

Activists torch 16 trucks, diggers:

Sixteen trucks and diggers were torched overnight in southern Chile, police said Monday, in an area where indigenous Mapuche activists are demanding the return of their ancestral land.

Police said between eight and 10 masked attackers entered a gravel factory, threatened the caretaker and fired weapons before setting light to 12 trucks and four earthmover­s.

The move was swiftly denounced by the governor of the Araucania region, where most Mapuche Indian communitie­s are concentrat­ed.

Venezuelan­s

Hundreds of Venezuelan­s swarmed outside the Chilean Consulate Monday hoping to get a new visa created by Santiago to offer a new home for people desperate to leave the crisis-wracked country.

As the consulate is closed on Mondays, the crowd of some 400 jostled to read a small board with instructio­ns for obtaining the visa announced last week by conservati­ve President Sebastian Pinera.

“Don’t push! We are all Venezuelan­s,” somebody in the crowd yelled.

Pinera

boosts

seek

free

new

visa:

education:

Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera on Monday proposed a bill to boost free technical education, days ahead of a planned student march in Santiago, the first such protest since he took office a month ago.

Pinera, a businessma­n and ex-president whose first term was marred by massive student protests seeking an education overhaul, said his proposal would increase public financing for technical colleges, allowing new students to attend free of charge and helping reduce a shortage of graduates in technical fields.

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