Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 11 april 2017

Venezuela protesters target Maduro, vow to keep up pressure

its last vestiges of power, a will be peace in Venezu-
decision it later reversed. ela,” said Julio Borges,
Demonstrators and oppo- president of the National
sition leaders are angered Assembly.
at what they see as a gov- Monday’s protest took
ernment that no longer re- place at the start of Easter
spects democratic institu- Week, when many Venezu-
tions and is sliding toward elans typically spend quiet
authoritarianism. time at home with family
Authorities squashed an or go on vacation. Oppo-
opposition campaign to sition party leaders urged
hold a recall referendum people to put any beach
on Maduro last year, and plans on hold and instead
a date has yet to be set get some sun while out put-
for gubernatorial elections ting pressure on the gov-
that were supposed to ernment.
take place in 2016. Authorities shut down sev-
Maduro accuses the oppo- eral metro stations citing
sition of fomenting unrest security reasons, but thou-
and conspiring with inter- sands nonetheless walked
national actors to desta- to the march.
bilize the country. He was In some previous dem-
in Cuba on Monday for a onstrations, government
gathering of the Bolivarian groups have roughed up
Alliance, a leftist coalition several opposition leaders
Demonstrators hold up their arms during clashes with Venezuelan Bolivarian National Guards sol-
diers during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 10, 2017. Thousands of people in Ven- of 11 Latin American na- and fired rubber bullets and
ezuela’s capital are protesting against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, demanding tions. a previously unseen reddish
new elections and vowing to stay in the streets during the usually quiet Easter Week. On Sunday the president gas at crowds. One day a
(AP Photo/Fernando Llano) called on the opposition to small group of young pro-
FABIOLA SANCHEZ Demonstrators covered “We need to get out on the return to stymied efforts at testers unsuccessfully tried
Associated Press their faces to protect street and fight, to tell these dialogue and said he was to set fire to a Supreme
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) against the plumes of tear people we don’t want eager for regional elec- Court office, and another
— Thousands of protest- gas that wafted through them,” said Maria Guedez, tions to take place. But op- group snatched a cam-
ers demanding new elec- the streets of Caracas. A a 67-year-old homemaker position leaders renewed era from journalists working
tions faced off with security few threw rocks as they carrying a sign that read, calls to take to the streets, for pro-government state
forces who launched tear tried to make their way “No more dictatorship.” saying Maduro’s words broadcaster VTV.
gas and stood shoulder- downtown waving Ven- Now in their second week, have no credibility until a The unrest has left one per-
to-shoulder blocking road- ezuelan flags and carrying the protests initially erupted full election timeline has son dead and dozens in-
ways in the Venezuelan signs decrying President April 1 after the Supreme been formally established. jured. More than 100 have
capital Monday. Nicolas Maduro. Court stripped congress of “That’s the only way there been detained.q

UN expert probes human trafficking in Cuba in milestone trip

HAVANA (AP) — An inde- Havana. trafficking and exploitation. Rights Council in June 2018. human trafficking.
pendent expert from the Such U.N. visits are routine in According to government Other trips to Cuba by U.N. The policy was scrapped in
United Nations was in Cuba other countries, but Cuba statistics, in 2015 a little over experts are still pending, in- January days before then-
on Monday for a four-day has generally rejected in- 2,000 cases of underage cluding one related to tor- President Barack Obama
visit to evaluate the human spections by international sexual abuse were report- ture. left office, as part of a pro-
trafficking situation on the organizations. ed among a population of Giammarinaro’s visit comes cess of normalizing rela-
island for the first time in a The government has re- 2.6 million children. three months after the tions between Washington
decade. laxed that stance some- Giammarinaro expects United States ended its so- and Havana.
Special Rapporteur Maria what in recent years, and to analyze what progress called wet foot, dry foot The United States previ-
Grazia Giammarinaro is officials welcomed Giam- Cuba has made and chal- policy, which for over two ously removed Cuba from
expected to visit a school marinaro upon her arrival lenges it still faces regard- decades allowed nearly all its blacklist of countries it
and meet parliament lead- and stressed that Cuba has ing trafficking, including Cubans who reached U.S. says have failed to fight
er Esteban Lazo and also a zero-tolerance policy on sexual and labor exploita- soil to remain. modern-day slavery after
has scheduled trips to the trafficking. tion. Island officials had long diplomatic relations were
provinces of Matanzas and They presented her with a The findings will be pre- complained about it, argu- formally restored in July
Artemisa near the capital, government action plan on sented to the U.N. Human ing that it contributed to 2015.q