International
Venezuela political prisoner dies of Covid
AFP
An army general who aligned with Venezuela’s late Hugo Chavez but later broke ranks with the socialist strongman and spent years as a prominent political prisoner has died of Covid-19 while in custody, officials said Tuesday.
“We regret the death of Raul Isaias Baduel from cardiorespiratory arrest as a consequence of Covid-19,” prosecutor general Tarek Saab posted on Twitter.
Baduel, 66, had received an initial Covid-19 vaccination and “was receiving appropriate medical care,” Saab added.
Baduel’s family said they learned of his death via Twitter.
“I have not received a call from any person in the government,” his wife Cruz Zambrano de Baduel told the EVTV internet channel.
She was skeptical that her husband, whom she had last seen four weeks ago, had contracted Covid at all.
“It is not true,” she said, pointing to his recent vaccination.
Baduel was Chavez’s defense minister, and helped reinstate the president after the April 2002 coup that briefly removed him from power.
The minister served almost eight years on corruption charges. After his release in 2015, he was jailed again on charges of conspiracy against current President Nicolas Maduro.
Baduel’s death means “there are now 10 political prisoners who have died in custody” since 2015, said Gonzalo Himiob, a lawyer for the human rights NGO Foro Penal.
“The responsibility for the life and health of any detainee rests with the state. Medical treatment is continuously required for prisoners,” Himiob tweeted.
Two of Baduel’s sons have also been arrested on allegations of conspiracy. One, Raul Emilio, is at large.
The other, Josnars Adolfo Baduel, was arrested for alleged participation in a failed maritime invasion in 2019 that sought to overthrow Maduro. He is still in custody.
International
Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.
“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.
“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.
Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
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