Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 21 February 2019

Deadly crackdown stokes fear among protesters in Venezuela

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ ezuelan lawyer Tamara
Associated Press Suju, recently gave the U.N.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) International Criminal Court
— Jhonny Godoy had tak- reports of 536 victims of
en to Twitter to proclaim torture in Venezuela since
his opposition to President 2014, including 106 since
Nicolas Maduro, posting the beginning of last year.
a video that showed him Six nations also made the
running through the streets unprecedented move of
waving the national flag asking the court to investi-
as protests erupted across gate Venezuela for possi-
Venezuela’s capital. ble crimes against human-
Two days later, his fam- ity.
ily said, rifle-wielding spe- Socialist party chief Dios-
cial police agents wearing dado Cabello and Ven-
black masks stormed into ezuela’s defense minister,
their home in the Caracas Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lo-
slum of La Vega, pulled pez, have denied the ac-
him outside and shot him to cusations of targeted kill-
death. ings. They insist the military
The slaying of the 29-year- follows the constitution and
old was part of a crack- respects human rights.
down that has spread fear The attorney general’s of-
among young protesters Members the National Police Action Force, or FAES, an elite commando unit created for anti-gang fice has not given a figure
in poor neighborhoods of operations, patrol the Antimano neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019. for those killed in the recent
Venezuela, where a his- Associated Press protests, though Attorney
tory of steadfast loyalty opposition to oust the so- on the masked demonstra- prominence when a tearful General Tarek William Saab
to Maduro has begun to cialist leader, according to tors in middle-class neigh- Guaido met with Godoy’s told a local TV channel that
crack amid hyperinfla- PROVEA and a crime moni- borhoods. Now, critics say, mother at her home and eight members of the na-
tion and shortages of food toring group, Observatory Maduro is hitting back by assured her that her son’s tional guard and the army
and medicine. At least 43 of Social Conflict. sending security forces into death wouldn’t be in vain. had been detained for the
people have been killed in Maduro is facing more the slums to try to suppress Later, during a news con- killings of four people in the
the round of protests that pressure than ever to cede dissent. ference, Guaido blamed rural states of Bolivar and
began last month, when power in the oil-rich na- PROVEA and Observa- the elite police commando Yaracuy.
Juan Guaido, the head of tion. The Trump administra- tory say they recorded 35 unit for the killing. Among those who died
the opposition-controlled tion recently sanctioned deaths during a single week Authorities have not com- when the latest protests
congress, declared himself Venezuela’s state-owned in January — most at night mented on the case. But broke out Jan. 23 was
interim president of the cri- oil company, squeezing in poor neighborhoods — in it’s not the first time the 19-year-old Nick Samuel
sis-wracked country. the country’s damaged addition to eight cases of special agents have been Oropeza. His family says
Human rights groups say economy even harder, apparent targeted killings linked to deadly opera- he was last seen alive flee-
some of those deaths ap- and Guaido has been rec- by members of the elite tions. PROVEA released a ing alongside other pro-
pear to be targeted slay- ognized as the country’s commando unit. report last month accus- testers through the dusty
ings by the National Police rightful leader by the U.S. Godoy was shot in the ab- ing the unit of involvement streets of the capital’s Las
Action Force, or FAES, an and dozens of other na- domen and foot, and a dis- in more than 200 killings in Adjuntas slum as national
elite commando unit cre- tions that argue Maduro’s posable diaper was shoved 2018. guardsmen opened fire on
ated in 2017 for anti-gang re-election to a second in his mouth, apparently to Human Rights Watch also people who had blocked
operations. Rights groups six-year term last year was suffocate him, Sinai said. detailed widespread abus- streets with mounds of
say it is now acting against fraudulent. A new round of She said the family believes es by members of Ven- trash. Minutes later, he was
disaffected youths living in sanctions Friday targeted his killing was linked to the ezuela’s security forces in found on the ground, his
the slums. four high-ranking intelli- video he posted on Twitter reports published in 2014 shirt drenched in blood.
“Maduro seeks to sow fear,” gence officials, including two days earlier. and 2017. It quoted Foro A bullet destroyed his kid-
said Rafael Uzcategui, co- the heads of the FAES com- “I’m going to continue Penal, a Venezuelan group ney and punctured a lung,
ordinator of the respected mando unit and the feared demonstrating because I that provides legal aid to said his mother, Ingrid Bor-
rights group Venezuelan SEBIN intelligence police. learned it from my cousin,” detainees, as saying that jas, a 38-year-old lawyer.
Education-Action Program The country has seen the said Sinai, who works for an more than 13,000 people “This needs to be inves-
on Human Rights, known largest protests since 2017, opposition politician who have been arrested since tigated,” Borjas said, her
as PROVEA. More than 700 when 120 people died hands out free food in the 2014 in connection with an- voice breaking with emo-
opponents of Maduro have in clashes with national slums. “He died so we can ti-government protests. tion. “Justice needs to be
been arrested during the guardsmen and pro-gov- have a free Venezuela.” The Prague-based CASLA served for my son and for
latest push by Venezuela’s ernment civilians who fired The case gained special Institute, headed by Ven- others.”q

Costa Rica hunts priest on abuse charges as time runs out

Associated Press of limitations threatens to generally can’t be pursued in the Roman Catholic Rafael Quiros also faces
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) run out on abuse charges 10 years after a complain- Church. It is believed he a canonical investigation
— A Costa Rican court has facing him. ant’s 18th birthday, and the left Costa Rica after taking for allegedly covering up
issued an international de- Mauricio Viquez allegedly alleged victims are nearly a leave of absence Jan. 7 for Viquez. Quiros is not ex-
tention request for a priest abused two teenagers in 28. from teaching duties at a pected to attend a Vati-
who is thought to have left 2003. Viquez also faces internal local university. can summit on abuse that
the country as the statute In Costa Rica, such charges canonical proceedings San Jose Archbishop Jose begins Thursday.q