Page 12 - atoday
P. 12
A12
WORLD NEWSWednesday 28 October
Prosecutor of Venezuela leader gives new details In The Caribbean:
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) a 2014 anti-government upscale neighborhood in Journal that he is in Miami Tobago police hold
— A Venezuelan prosecu- protest in Caracas and re- Caracas, and has for years and is seeking asylum with two over murder of
tor who helped convict op- ceived the maximum sen- been one of the primary his wife and two daughters. British lawyer, wife
position leader Leopoldo tence, about 14 years. Lo- leaders of the hardline op- Venezuela’s chief pros-
Lopez is saying that the pez insisted that he never position to the country’s so- ecutor, Luisa Ortega Diaz, PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad
government had long plot- called for violence, but cialist administration. on Monday denied that (AP) — Investigators in Trini-
ted Lopez’s arrest. Nieves was pressured to go dad and Tobago have ar-
Prosecutor Franklin Nieves, A woman wearing handcuffs, chains and a rosary holds a poster after Lopez, and rejected rested two suspects in the
who reportedly is now of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez in Caracas, Venezu- calls to annul Lopez’s sen- slaying of a British lawyer
seeking asylum in the Unit- ela. tence. She said Nieves had and his wife. Assistant Po-
ed States, said in a video caved in to foreign interests. lice Commissioner Vincel
posted Monday on the (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) “We at the prosecutors’ of- Edwards says one suspect
Venezuelan news website fice we don’t put pressure is a Tobago man and the
La Patilla that superiors in prosecutors argued that Nieves has promised to re- on anyone,” she said in a other is from St. Vincent. A
the prosecutor’s office had violence was implicit in his veal more evidence that televised interview. Twenty lawyer representing them
given him orders to have calls for the resignation of Lopez was railroaded. In an members of Congress have could not immediately be
Lopez arrested days before President Nicolas Maduro. interview published Mon- called for sanctions against contacted.
the Caracas protest — and Lopez was mayor of an day, he told the Wall Street Nieves and four other Ven-
the alleged crime — took ezuelan officials involved The British couple were
place. in Lopez’s trial. The request found slain in their home in
Nieves said orders went out came in a bipartisan letter the Tobago community of
to arrest Lopez at an earlier sent to Secretary of State Carnbee early last week.
scheduled protest, but Lo- John Kerry and Treasury They were identified as
pez did not appear so the Secretary Jacob Lew. Richard and Grace Wheel-
plan was dropped. This week, some of those er.
Nieves fled Venezuela and same Congress members Richard Wheeler was origi-
apologized last week for are using Nieves testimo- nally from Sheffield, but
his role in what he called ny to renew their calls for worked as a lawyer for the
a sham trial. Lopez was sanctions on Venezuelan Lex Caribbean firm, where
convicted in September officials he was a partner in the To-
of inciting violence during bago office specializing in
property development.
Colombia finds four survivors of rebel ambush Dominican workers
battle dengue fever
JOSHUA GOODMAN lombia’s second-biggest during Sunday’s elections understood that it’s time amid uptick in illness
Associated Press rebel group, comes as mo- for governors, mayors and for peace, not for war,”
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) mentum had been build- other local officials. said Santos, adding that he SANTO DOMINGO, Do-
— Colombian authorities ing for the Cuban-inspired It’s unclear what impact ordered the military to re- minican Republic (AP) —
said Tuesday they have insurgency to soon join the the attack, the deadliest double a military offensive Dominican health officials
found four survivors of a more-powerful Revolution- by the ELN since 2013, will against the ELN’s remain- say that public workers
rebel ambush that killed ary Armed Forces of Co- have on those talks, but ing 1,500 fighters, most of will fan out across the Ca-
12 members of the security lombia and enter formal several conservative politi- whom are concentrated ribbean country to spray
forces who were escorting negotiations to end a half- cians have called on the in eastern Colombia, near insecticides and instruct
election workers from a lo- century of bloodshed. The government to suspend where the attack took citizens how best to avoid
cal election on a remote ELN has been holding ex- the effort. President Juan place. contracting dengue fever.
Indian reservation. ploratory talks with the gov- Manuel Santos expressed “If the ELN thinks that these Health Minister Altagracia
Two soldiers remain missing ernment outside of Colom- outrage, saying the guerril- acts they are going to gain Guzman said the effort
and were likely captured bia for more than a year. la action marred what had political space or strength- comes amid an uptick of
by the National Liberation Among the survivors found otherwise been the safest en their position before an the mosquito-borne ill-
Army, or ELN, which carried are two poll workers who regional elections Colom- eventual negotiations they ness. So far this year, there
out the attack before dawn had been transporting bia has held in decades, are completely wrong.” have been 98 deaths and
Monday in the Andean some 130 ballots to the with a 60 percent reduction Of those killed early Mon- over 8,500 reported cases.
highlands, on the edge of capital for tallying. in violence compared with day, 11 were members of That’s nearly double the 52
the popular Sierra Nevada The ballots had been cast the previous vote in 2011. the army while the other dengue deaths reported
del Cocuy national park. at the remote Bachira res- “This is an event that dem- was a police officer.q during the same period in
The attack by the ELN, Co- ervation of the U’wa tribe onstrates the ELN haven’t 2014. Among the victims is
local TV presenter Juan Luis
Reynoso. q
