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A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 15 February 2020

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro holds up a copy of
his country's case taken to the International Criminal Court
regarding U.S. sanctions during a press conference at Miraflores
presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Feb. 14,
2020.
Associated Press
Venezuelan president

Rose-Marie Louis, a staff worker at the Orphanage of the Church of Bible Understanding, holds her
head amid the charred children's home, including the unrecognizable body of a child marked by says arrest of Juan
a yellow piece of paper, bottom right, in Kenscoff, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday,
Feb. 14, 2020. Guaidó "will come"
Associated Press
Haiti officials say 15 children By SCOTT SMITH and CHRIS- and other world leaders

died in residence fire TINE ARMARIO expressed their continued
Associated Press
support during Guaidó's
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) recent trip abroad, many
By EVENS SANON, MICHAEL "These little girls inside were beds with faded and worn — President Nicolás Mad- inside Venezuela have
WEISSENSTEIN and BEN FOX just like my baby." mattresses crowded into uro said Friday that Ven- grown wary of the opposi-
Associated Press Rescue workers arrived at dirty rooms. Sour air waft- ezuelan authorities haven't tion as Maduro remains in
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) the scene on motorcycles ed through the bathrooms detained opposition leader the presidency and con-
— A fire swept through a and didn't have bottled and stairwells. Rooms were Juan Guaidó because the solidates his power.
Haitian children's home run oxygen or the ambulances dark and spartan, lacking courts haven't ordered Guaidó did not respond to
by a Pennsylvania-based needed to transport the comforts or decoration. it, but he warned: "It will Maduro's threat Friday.
religious nonprofit group, children to the hospital, Late Friday afternoon Hai- come." Dressed in a blue suit and
killing 15 children, officials said Jean-Francois Roben- tian police raided another Maduro made the remark seated before a giant por-
said Friday. Rose-Marie ty, a civil protection official. home run by the group and in a meeting with the inter- trait of South American in-
Louis, a child-care worker "They could have been took away several dozen national press three days dependence hero Simón
at the home, told The As- saved,"' he said. ''We didn't children in a bus, despite after Guaidó returned from Bolívar, Maduro delivered
sociated Press that the fire have the equipment to protests from employees. a tour to the U.S. and Eu- an angry diatribe against
began around 9 p.m. Thurs- save their lives.'' The Church of Bible Under- rope, in defiance of a court U.S. sanctions that he lik-
day and firefighters took The Associated Press has standing, based in Scran- order prohibiting him from ened to a "sick persecution"
about 1.5 hours to arrive. reported on a long-stand- ton, Pennsylvania, oper- leaving the country. which he said has forced
The orphanage had been ing series of problems at ates two homes for nearly Despite the order, migra- him to make difficult deci-
using candles for light due two children's homes run 200 children in Haiti as tion officials let Guaidó sions to keep the economy
to problems with its gener- by the Church of Bible Un- part of a "Christian train- enter when he arrived on afloat.
ator and inverter, she said. derstanding. The Church ing program," according a commercial flight at Ven- Nearly half of the popula-
About half of those who of Bible Understanding lost to its most recent nonprofit ezuela's main international tion now makes purchases
died were babies or tod- accreditation for its homes organization filing. It has airport. in U.S. dollars, according to
dlers and the others were after a series of inspec- operated in the country Maduro said that the day Ecoanalitica, a Caracas-
roughly 10 or 11 years old, tions beginning in Novem- since 1977. It identifies the Venezuela's justice system based analysis firm. The dol-
Louis said. Thirteen bodies ber 2012. Haitian inspec- homes as orphanages but decides Guaidó should larization has helped fuel a
were initially recovered. tors faulted the group for it is common in Haiti for be imprisoned "for all the limited revival of Venezu-
Justice of the Peace Ray- overcrowding, unsanitary impoverished parents to crimes he's committed," he ela's economy in cities like
monde Jean Antoine said conditions and not hav- place children in residential will be jailed. Venezuela's the capital, while also high-
two bodies were then re- ing enough adequately care centers, where they judicial system is stacked lighting disparities between
moved Friday afternoon trained staff. receive lodging and widely with pro-Maduro officials those who do and do not
from the Orphanage of Members of the religious varying education for sev- who routinely issue decrees have access to dollar bills.
the Church of Bible Un- group were selling ex- eral years but are not tech- in accordance with the Maduro loosened rigid cur-
derstanding in the Ken- pensive vintage building nically orphans. president's viewpoints. rency controls in place for
scoff area outside Port-au- fixtures like banisters and "We take in children who "That day hasn't come yet, 16 years last May, allowing
Prince, the Haitian capital. chandeliers at high-end are in desperate situations," but it will come," the presi- banks to buy and sell U.S.
"It could have been me," stores in New York and Los the organization says in its dent said in response to a dollars at any exchange
said Renadin Mondeline, Angeles and using a por- tax filing for 2017, the most question from The Associ- rate, making it far easier for
a 22-year-old who lived in tion of the profits to fund recent year available. ated Press. entrepreneurs to operate in
the home with her son, now the homes. "Many of them were very The warning comes as a currency accepted inter-
6, for about two years until The Associated Press made close to death when we Guaidó tries to revive mo- nationally.
she started making enough an unannounced visit to took them in." The nonprofit mentum in Venezuela for "Having to choose whether
money as a street ven- the group's two homes, reported revenue of $6.6 his flagging opposition to repress or permit, I chose
dor to starting renting her holding a total of 120 kids, million and expenses of movement. Though U.S. to permit it," he said of the
own place to live last year. in 2013 and found bunk $2.2 million for the year.q President Donald Trump growing dollarization.q