The bogus information, according to government prosecutors, was an assertion by former Zulia state Gov.
“
To many, including the U.S. State Department and several foreign counternarcotics agencies,
and detection of suspected drug flights from clandestine airstrips here
point to a sharp increase in trafficking over the last decade.
In 2006,
had quintupled since 2001 to more than 250 tons a year. The flow then
represented an estimated one-quarter to one-third of all the cocaine
produced by
Human Rights Watch and other rights groups decried
told reporters Wednesday after emerging from the court that the judge
refused to release his father during the legal process because she
deemed him a flight risk.
Opponents say the arrest is the latest effort by Chavez’s government to suppress dissent. In
Chavez refused to renew the license of the nation’s most popular TV
network, RCTV, and more recently has threatened to close Globovision,
the remaining broadcaster critical of the government.
On Wednesday, Congressman
This month, Chavez said he would talk to the
attorney general about regulating the Internet, which he said is
“poisoning the minds of many people.”
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