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A7
WORLD NEWS Friday 30 OctOber 2020
Ad exec feeds downtrodden Venezuelans from his bicycle seat

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ tives had sought a brighter
Associated Press future abroad.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) So Burgos marshaled his
— Andrés Burgos' world cooking skills to reach out
was becoming increasingly to others — the hungry who
solitary. The office of his ad- normally survive by rum-
vertising firm was practical- maging through piles of
ly empty, thanks to Vene- garbage for food on the
zuela's crushing economic streets of the capital, Ca-
crisis, and many of his rela- racas. Burgos, 55, started

Andres Burgos, a 55-year-old publicist, gives a package of arepas or corn flour patties to a man
begging for money at a traffic light in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2020.
Associated Press

Supporters of those who disappeared in Chile in the 1970's handing out arepas — on his route from home ezuelan families, said Marit-
are seen outside the Sydney Central Local Court in Sydney, Venezuela's beloved corn to the office, or in visits to za Landaeta, coordinator
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. flour patties — from the nearby hospitals. His efforts at a Caracas-based char-
Associated Press seat of his bicycle to needy have grown steadily after ity called the Foundation
Australian court rules to extradite children, adults and the el- family, friends and small- for Food and Nutrition José
business owners learned María Bengoa. She said
derly. He calls it BiciArepa-
kidnap suspect to Chile zo, which translates roughly about them on social me- there's no safety net for
dia and asked if they could masses of people who sur-
as Bike Arepas.
SYDNEY (AP) — An Austra- rights and it respects hu- Burgos started small with pitch in. There's no deny- vive on informal work, such
lian judge ruled Thursday man rights," Navarro told his own money a year ago, ing that food insecurity has as selling snacks, cigarettes
that a woman wanted reporters outside the Syd- passing out a few arepas deepened among Ven- or coffee on the street.q
in Chile on kidnapping ney court following the rul-
charges dating to Augusto ing.
Pinochet's military dictator- Rivas was an assistant to
ship in the 1970s can be ex- Manuel Contreras, the
tradited. head of the DINA secret
Magistrate Philip Stewart police during Pinochet's
dismissed Adriana Rivas' dictatorship.
lawyers' objections to her Her lawyers argued Rivas
extradition on allegations was not a DINA agent and
that she kidnapped seven her work was mundane.
people in 1976 and 1977, Her tasks included collect-
including Communist Party ing laundry, making coffee
leader Victor Diaz. The al- and translating, they said.
leged victims have never Rivas denies ever meeting
been found. the alleged victims.
The 67-year-old Rivas has Rivas moved to Australia in
15 days to appeal the de- 1978 and was detained in
cision in the Federal Court. Chile during a visit to see
She has been in custody family in 2006. She was re-
since her arrest in Sydney in leased after some months
February last year on a Chil- on probation and fled to
ean Supreme Court extra- Australia in 2009.
dition order. Several court She lived quietly in Sydney's
attempts for provisional re- wealthy eastern suburbs,
lease during the extradition working as a part-time nan-
hearing have failed. ny and cleaner until her ar-
Chilean-born lawyer and rest.
advocate for Pinochet's In 2014, Rivas told Austra-
victims Adriana Navarro lia's Special Broadcasting
said Rivas' case was the first Service that she was inno-
of its kind and "extremely cent of the charges, but
important." defended the use of tor-
"We are happy that Austra- ture in Chile at the time as
lia is on the side of human necessary.q