International

Chavez brother renounces governorship in vote dispute

AFP

The older brother of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez on Tuesday renounced the governorship of western Barinas state, a stronghold of the family, after losing reelection to an opposition candidate who was subsequently disqualified.

Argenis Chavez, 63, had lost the November 21 vote to Freddy Superlano, receiving 37.21 percent of ballots cast compared to his rival’s 37.6 percent according to projections of the CNE election body.

But on Monday, Venezuela’s highest court annulled the victory of Superlano, an ally of opposition leader Juan Guaido who is recognized by the United States and some 50 other governments as Venezuela’s true president over incumbent Nicolas Maduro, whose 2018 re-election is disputed.

Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won 19 gubernatorial races in the November 21 vote — the first in which the opposition participated since 2017.

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Barinas was alone among Venezuela’s 23 states not to have its election outcome confirmed by election authorities.

The court, accused of government bias by the opposition, ruled Monday in favor of the country’s public finances watchdog which had sought a declaration of Superlano’s “ineligibility” as an election candidate.

It said he should be disqualified due to “administrative and criminal investigations” into accusations of corruption.

The court ordered new elections to be held on January 9, without Superlano, in the state governed by the Chavez family and the PSUV since 1998.

The ex-president’s father, Hugo de los Reyes Chavez was governor from 1998 to 2008 followed by Hugo Chavez’s brother Adan — now Venezuela’s ambassador to Cuba — and then Argenis from 2017.

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Announcing his resignation Tuesday, Chavez did not specify whether he will contest the January 9 election.

On Sunday, Maduro lashed out at EU observers, whom he called “enemies” and “spies”, for saying the November 21 election for governors and mayors had been marred by irregularities.

The EU mission had noted a “lack of adherence to the rule of law” and expressed doubts over the “equality of conditions, the balance and the transparency of the elections.”

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”

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.”