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Duque hopes trial will unveil Venezuela’s ‘drug dictatorship’

AFP

Colombia President Ivan Duque said Monday he hopes the trial of a suspected money launderer extradited to the United States will shed light on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s “drug dictatorship.”

Businessman Alex Saab appeared in court in Florida on Monday after being extradited on Saturday to the United States from Cape Verde, where he had been detained since June 2020.

Saab, a Colombian national, and his business partner Alvaro Pulido are charged in the US with running a network that exploited food aid destined for Venezuela, an oil-rich nation mired in an acute economic crisis.

“I hope that all the support Alex Saab gives to the US court will also show what there is behind this network, and it’s a drug dictatorship that tried to use this network to launder money,” Duque said during an official visit to Sao Paulo.

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Duque is one of the fiercest critics of Maduro.

Venezuela’s government reacted with fury on Sunday to news of Saab’s extradition, calling off the latest round of talks with the Venezuelan opposition in Mexico.

Duque has often accused Maduro’s regime of drug-trafficking to raise money, and also of harboring armed Colombian rebels on its soil.

“I also hope that (a trial) will serve to consolidate the accusations being made by Colombia for some time, which is the collusion of Maduro’s regime with terrorist groups and drug-traffickers,” said Duque.

Experts believe Saab could shed light on hidden financial transactions between Caracas and allied countries.

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However he has indicated he will not cooperate with the US court proceedings.

Venezuela’s opposition says Saab, 49, who has Venezuelan nationality, was a frontman doing shady deals for Maduro’s government.

Saab and Pulido are alleged to have moved $350 million out of Venezuela into accounts they controlled in the US and other countries. They risk up to 20 years in prison.

Saab, who was indicted in July 2019 in Miami for money laundering, was traveling on a Venezuelan diplomatic passport when detained in Cape Verde.

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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.

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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.

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International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

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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