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world news Diahuebs 21 OctOber 2021

Spanish court rules to extradite Venezuela spy chief to US

(AP) — A Spanish court tion to the U.S. when he was smuggling of approximately
on Wednesday ordered the picked up in Aruba in 2014 5,600 kilograms of cocaine
extradition of a former on the same New York indict- from Venezuela to Mexico in
Venezuelan spy chief to ment that Spanish authori- 2006.
the United States where ties acted on. He returned to
he is wanted on charges of Venezuela after slipping the Carvajal also allegedly pro-
drug trafficking and be- grasp of authorities and was vided weapons to armed
longing to a terror organi- received as a hero. FARC guerrillas in Colom-
zation. bia, according to the U.S.
But he eventually broke with Treasury Department, and
Retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Venezuelan President Nico- helped fund the group’s ac-
Carvajal, who for more than lás Maduro, throwing his tivities by facilitating ship-
a decade advised the late Ven- support behind the opposi- ments of large amounts of
ezuelan leader Hugo Chávez tion to Maduro’s Socialist re- U.S.-bound cocaine through
before breaking with his suc- gime. He then left Venezuela Venezuela.
cessor, had been resisting for good.
extradition since he was ar- Spain’s National Court said date was given. Chávez’s former nurse, who
rested in Spain in April 2019. Prosecutors in New York al- police and Spain’s peniten- is charged in Miami with
lege that Carvajal used his tiary services will be in charge Last week the National Court money laundering.
Carvajal had avoided extradi- high office to coordinate the of his transfer to the U.S. No ordered the extradition of

Flooding in Venice worsens off-season amid climate change

(AP) — After Venice suffered the mate scientists and global leaders floods at 80 centimeters (around 30 scandal, is still officially in the testing
second-worst flood in its history meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, at a inches), and water passes the narthex phase.
in November 2019, it was inun- U.N. climate conference that begins into the church at 88 centimeters
dated with four more exceptional Oct. 31. (34.5 inches), which has been rein- Following the devastation of the
tides within six weeks, shocking forced up from a previous 65 centi- 2019 floods, the Rome government
Venetians and triggering fears Venice’s worse-case scenario for sea meters (25.5 inches). put the project under ministry con-
about the worsening impact of level rise by the end of the century “Conditions are continuing to wors- trol to speed its completion, and last
climate change. is a startling 120 centimeters (3 feet, en since the flooding of November year start activating the barriers when
11 inches), according to a new study 2019. We therefore have the certainty floods of 1.3 meters (4 feet, 3 inches)
The repeated invasion of brackish published by the European Geosci- that in these months, flooding is no are imminent.
lagoon water into St. Mark’s Basilica ences Union. That is 50% higher longer an occasional phenomenon. It
this summer is a quiet reminder that than the worse-case global sea-rise is an everyday occurrence,” said Tes- The barriers have been raised 20
the threat hasn’t receded. average of 80 centimeters (2 feet, 7 serin, whose honorific, First Procu- times since October 2020, sparing the
1/2 inches) forecast by the U.N. sci- rator of St. Mark’s, dates back to the city a season of serious flooding but
“I can only say that in August, a ence panel. ninth century. not from the lower-level tides that are
month when this never used to hap- becoming more frequent.
pen, we had tides over a meter five The city’s interplay of canals and ar- In the last two decades, there have
times. I am talking about the month chitecture, of natural habitat and hu- been nearly as many inundations in The extraordinary commissioner,
of August, when we are quiet,” St. man ingenuity, also has earned it rec- Venice over 1.1 meters — the official Elisabetta Spitz, stands by the sound-
Mark’s chief caretaker, Carlo Alberto ognition as a UNESCO World Heri- level for “acqua alta,” or “high water,” ness of the undersea barriers, despite
Tesserin, told The Associated Press. tage site for its outstanding universal provoked by tides, winds and lunar concerns by scientists and experts that
value, a designation put at risk of late cycles — as during the previous 100 their usefulness may be outstripped
Venice’s unique topography, built because of the impact of over-tour- years: 163 vs. 166, according to city within decades because of climate
on log piles among canals, has made ism and cruise ship traffic. It escaped data. change. The project has been delayed
it particularly vulnerable to climate the endangered list after Italy banned yet again, until 2023, with another
change. Rising sea levels are increas- cruise ships from passing through St. Exceptional floods over 140 centi- 500 million euros ($580 million) in
ing the frequency of high tides that Mark’s Basin, but alarm bells are still meters (4 feet, 7 inches) also are ac- spending, for “improvements” that
inundate the 1,600-year-old Italian ringing. celerating. That mark has been hit 25 Spitz said will ensure its long-term
lagoon city, which is also gradually times since Venice starting keeping efficiency.
sinking. Sitting at Venice’s lowest spot, St. such records in 1872. Two-thirds of
Mark’s Basilica offers a unique posi- those have been registered in the last “We can say that the effective life of
It is the fate of coastal cities like Ven- tion to monitor the impact of rising 20 years, with five, or one-fifth of the the Moses is 100 years, taking into ac-
ice that will be on the minds of cli- seas on the city. The piazza outside total, from Nov. 12-Dec. 23, 2019. count the necessary maintenance and
interventions that will be implement-
“What is happening now is on the ed,” Spitz said.
continuum for Venetians, who have
always lived with periodic flooding,” Paolo Vielmo, an engineer who has
said Jane Da Mosto, executive direc- written expert reports on the proj-
tor of We Are Here Venice. “We are ect, points out that the sea level rise
living with flooding that has become was projected at 22 centimeters (8
increasingly frequent, so my concern 1/2 inches) when the Moses was first
is that people haven’t really realized proposed more than 30 years ago, far
we are in a climate crisis. We are al- below the U.N. scientists’ current
ready living it now. It is not a question worse-case scenario of 80 centime-
of plans to deal with it in the future. ters.
We need to have solutions ready for
today.” “That puts the Moses out of conten-
tion,” he said.
Venice’s defense has been entrusted
to the Moses system of moveable According to current plans, the Mo-
underwater barriers, a project cost- ses barriers won’t be raised for floods
ing around 6 billion euros (nearly $7 of 1.1 meters (3 feet, 7 inches) until
billion) and which, after decades of the project receives final approval.
cost overruns, delays and a bribery That leaves St. Mark’s exposed.