Page 11 - atoday mrch 16
P. 11
WORLD NEWS A11
Wednesday 16 March 2016
Brazil Supreme Court accepts plea deal by key lawmaker
Brazil’s Education Minister Aloizio Mercadante, speaks during a ral was detained late last Navarro, was approved by The message, a recording
press conference in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, March 15, 2016. year on allegations of ob- the Senate, but he didn’t of which was part of the
structing the “Car Wash” release anyone detained plea deal, was transmitted
(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) investigation into corrup- in the case. to Amaral during his time in
tion at Brazil’s state-run oil Amaral’s accusations are jail through an aide, who
JENNY BARCHFIELD whose testimony in the giant, Petrobras. He was the first directly implicating said Mercadante offered
sprawling Petrobras corrup- released in February, but Rousseff herself in the cor- money to help pay legal
MAURICIO SAVARESE tion case includes incen- news reports emerged last ruption scheme. She has fees “probably through
diary allegations against week saying he had struck repeatedly denied any companies linked with
Brazil’s president, her pre- a plea deal in exchange wrongdoing. the Workers’ Party,” ac-
decessor and other promi- for leniency. His testimony is considered cording to the document.
nent public figures across Supreme Court officials only a starting point in the Amaral said he assumed
the political spectrum. on Tuesday confirmed to investigation, with its con- Mercadante was acting as
Sen. Delcidio do Ama- the Associated Press that tents to be verified. If it was Rousseff’s “emissary.”
Amaral’s deal had been found he lied, the plea At a news conference
accepted and made pub- agreement would be an- Tuesday afternoon, Mer-
lic. The court sent a link to nulled. cadante acknowledged
the 400-plus page docu- The document also alleges speaking with Amaral’s
ment. that Education Minister Al- aide, but categorically de-
In the document, Ama- oizio Mercadante, a close nied offering any payment
ral detailed accusations confident of Rousseff who or trying to interfere in the
against President Dilma had been her chief of investigation. He said that
Rousseff including that she staff until recently, warned he felt sorry for Amaral’s
knew about a scheme to Amaral to “remain calm family following his deten-
buy a refinery in the United and think about the tack tion and that “human gen-
States at an inflated price. he would take” following erosity” motivated his con-
It also alleges Rousseff his Nov. 25 detention. versation with the aide.
and former Justice Minister
Associated Press Jose Eduardo Cardozo ap-
pointed a justice to a high
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The court in a bid to secure the
release of some people
Supreme Court said Tues- detained in the Petrobras
probe. The justice, Marcelo
day it accepted a plea
agreement with the for-
mer Senate leader for the
governing Workers’ Party,
Last flight off to Mexico for Cuban migrants
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) to most would-be migrants. vantage of the air bridge
— The last direct flight car- Costa Rica’s Foreign Rela- and made their way north
rying stranded Cuban mi- tions Ministry said the last alone or by hiring immi-
grants from Costa Rica has flight Tuesday included 50 grant smugglers. It is still un-
arrived in Mexico, ending migrants who couldn’t pay clear what will happen to
an effort that transported for the chartered flights to about 50 Cubans who en-
6,003 Cubans, including Mexico, and got tickets tered Costa Rica illegally;
some from Panama, Mex- subsidized by international they are fighting deporta-
ico’s Interior Department aid groups. Costa Rica had tion.
said Tuesday. housed thousands of Cu- During the effort to trans-
Nearly 8,000 Cuban mi- bans for months at 44 shel- port the Cubans out, many
grants had been stuck in ters. The Central American were flown to Mexican bor-
Costa Rica after Nicara- country said it had sent a der cities on a total of 38
gua began refusing pas- total of 4,817 Cubans to flights. Others traveled on
sage to them in November. Mexico. buses, and then made their
Others had been stuck in Hundreds more came from way to the U.S. border from
Panama, on a land route Panama, where they had southern Mexico.
that saw Cubans flying to been stuck after Costa Most of the Cubans have
Ecuador and then making Rica stopped accepting ultimately presented them-
their way overland through the migrants in December. selves at Mexican border
Central America to reach Costa Rica had issued a to- crossings with the United
the U.S. border. Ecuador tal of 7,802 temporary tran- States, where special poli-
began requiring visas for sit visas for Cubans, which cies for Cubans allow them
Cubans late last year, ef- suggests that about 2,985 to stay and enjoy other
fectively blocking the route migrants didn’t take ad- benefits.
