Opposition ex-governor escapes Venezuela jail, authorities say

[Judi Lynn]

Source: International Herald Tribune

Opposition ex-governor escapes Venezuela jail, authorities say
The Associated Press
Published: April 1, 2007


CARACAS, Venezuela: A former opposition governor has escaped from a prison in northwestern Venezuela, authorities said Sunday. It was the second high-profile jail break by a foe of President Hugo Chavez in less than a year.

Eduardo Lapi, ex-governor of Yaracuy state, was reported missing by prison authorities early Sunday from the San Felipe jail, where he was being held on corruption charges.

Interpol and immigration authorities have been alerted in case Lapi tries to flee the country, Tarek El Aissami, vice minister of citizen security, told a news conference.

Lapi, who governed Yaracuy state for two consecutive terms from 1998 to 2004, has been accused of violating a state bidding process and influence peddling. He was detained last May, but his trial had yet to begin.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/01/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-Opposition-Fugitive.php

---

Eduardo Lapi

[BayCityProgressive]

1. how much you want to bet

he gets asylum here?

[Judi Lynn]

2. Ha! Do you have any doubt what town he would choose?

It's that "home away from home" for god knows how many death squad leaders, drug lords, and right-wing dictators and their retinues, as well as South American hyper capitalists who want to get out with all their money intact.

I read an article once which said it looks as if Latin America had vomited them all out on South Florida's shores.

Batista lived there in between Presidential terms, running Cuba with puppet Presidents, from South Florida.

[Eugene]

3. Venezuela arrests over jailbreak

Source: BBC News

Last Updated: Tuesday, 3 April 2007, 15:52 GMT 16:52 UK

Venezuela arrests over jailbreak

Venezuelan police have arrested 59 people after a former state
governor escaped from jail where he was waiting to be tried
on corruption charges.

Eduardo Lapi - prominent opponent of President Hugo Chavez -
had been in detention since May last year.

Police are investigating whether a cake laced with sedatives
was smuggled into the prison to incapacitate guards.

-snip-

Prison guards were believed to have been bribed to help Mr
Lapi's escape, Venezuelan Interior Minister Pedro Carreno said.

At least 11 of those detained are employees at the penitentiary,
officials say.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6523181.stm

[Judi Lynn]

4. Omigosh, I see what your BBC article says about "opposition leader" Carlos Ortega!

Another Chavez opponent - Carlos Ortega - escaped from a military jail near the capital, Caracas, in August 2006.



Here he was, wearing the white Venezuela t-shirt, leading a parade with another coup-plotter in Miami, Carlos Fernandez, president of the National Chamber of Commerce (Fedecamaras), to his right, in the hat, March, 2004, when the entire REST OF THE WORLD was out in the streets protesting _Bush's war on the Iraqis. In Miami, the Cuban reactionary leaders combined with the right-wing Venezuelan ex-patriots to stage an anti-Chavez parade.

It wouldn't take too long to figure out where the financing came from for bribes for his jail escape. It just could be the same people who bribed the Venezuelan prison guards, and it has been acknowledged publicly, in the prison escape of bomber/mass murderer, Luis Posada Carriles, the C.A.N.F., Cuban American National Foundation.

Goddawful creeps. Criminals. Buffoons. Slime. Scum.

[Peace Patriot]

5. If Chavez really was a dictator--as our war profiteering corporate news monopolies and

their rightwing echo-chamber keep saying--these men would not be alive.

But he happens to believe in law and order--and in the enlightened principles of the better democracies--fair trials, habeas corpus, innocent until proven guilty, no capital punishment, no torture.

Unlike our rotten to the core government.

I hope he doesn't pay for his lawfulness and decency by more trouble in Venezuela from these Bush/CIA operatives.

As for Miami, they really need another corrupt politician. Not.

[Judi Lynn]

7. It's so possible he's going to have 6 years of rough sledding with the continual

interference, undoubtedly violent, if they can swing it, from his right-wing reactionary enemies in South Florida with and without government sanction. You undoubtedly remember the right-wing Cuban CIA reactionaries were also up to their necks in Iran-Contra, including the bomber/mass muderer, Luis Posada Carriles.

They were also gung-ho participants in that international murderers' holiday, Operation Condor, even slaughtering the Chilean leftist diplomat and his American assistant, Orlando Letelier, and Ronnie Moffit, and injuring her husband on the streets of Washington, D.C. in broad daylight.

I doubt they ever were really out of business, if the truth were known. You can be sure they would be more than happy to pitch in.

(Popular-in-Miami Cuban bomber/mass murderer, Luis Posada Carriles was once the head of Venezuela's Intelligence, in the 1980's, and ordered torturing people there, some of whom survived and have identified him.)

[Judi Lynn]

6. Updates from an opposition newspaper:

Caracas, Monday April 02 , 2007

TSJ blames Lapi for another crime

- Opposition leader escapes from prison

Yaracuy ex Governor Eduardo Lapi "is held responsible for another crime" for escaping from the prison he was put while awaiting trial for corruption charges, said Monday the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ).

"Evasion is a new responsibility against that citizen (…) it is a disrespect, an illicit, rebel action against the authorities and the whole judiciary," TSJ president Luisa Estella Morales told official TV channel VTV, as quoted by Efe.

Lapi fled San Felipe prison last Saturday night presumably with the help of warders. The officials have been subject to the Attorney General Office, which is leading the enquiry.

The governor of central-northern Yaracuy state from 1996 to 2006 was detained in May 2006, when his successor, pro-government Carlos Giménez, accused him of embezzlement and violation of the state bidding process. The Attorney General Office estimates that he caused public damages for USD 6 million.
(snip)

http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/04/02/en_pol_art_tsj-blames-lapi-for_02A851161.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-

Caracas, Tuesday April 03 , 2007

Presumed army links in Lapi's jailbreak

Venezuelan police has arrested 59 people in connection with the escape of former state governor Eduardo Lapi last Sunday from San Felipe Judicial Detention Center, reported Citizen's Security Secretary in central-northern Yaracuy state Oscar Baquero.

Detainees include officials of the People's Ministry of the Interior and Justice and the National Guard, Baquero told official TV station Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) during an interview.

He hinted also links with military officers.

A total of 29 arrests were made last Monday and over 1,800 local police agents were deployed all over the state 14 municipalities in search of Lapi.
(snip)

http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/04/03/en_pol_art_presumed-army-links_03A851717.shtml

[Judi Lynn]

8. This is choice! Perhaps this escapee will choose to apply for asylum!

From a heavy opposition newspaper:

Caracas, Tuesday April 03 , 2007

Lapi's lawyers do not rule out applying for political asylum

Any country around the world could grant political asylum to opposition leader Eduardo Lapi -who escaped from jail on April 1st-, said former lawmaker Alejandro Arzola, one of Lapi's legal advisers.

Lapi was elected three times as Governor of central Yaracuy state for opposition Convergencia party; he was a member of the Forum for Negotiation and Agreement sponsored by the Organization of American States (OAS) and The Carter Center.

Lapi was imprisoned pending trial for alleged embezzlement, but the proceedings were plagued with irregularities.

"Over the last 11 months, we have witnessed the via crucis of a citizen whose constitutional rights were violated," Arzola said, adding that both Lapi's relatives and lawyers do not believe the political leader escaped from prison but is missing. Arzola demanded authorities to explain how Lapi escaped from jail.
(snip/)

http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/04/03/en_pol_art_lapi's-lawyers-do-no_03A851483.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lest you forget the role the Venezuelan media played in the well-planned coup against Chavez which failed due to intense public support of the elected President:

~snip~
Venezuela's media establishment, closely aligned with a local oligarchy that has the receptive ear of the Bush administration, almost unanimously abhors Chávez' populist policies, big-mouth authoritarian style, friendship with media buster, Fidel Castro, and intolerance of criticism. Chávez hates them back.

Led by Cisneros, the media group, which also included Andrews Mata, owner of El Universal, Venezuela's other major daily, met with self-proclaimed interim President and big business mouthpiece Pedro Carmona on Saturday April 14, as demonstrators were pouring out on the streets of Caracas demanding Chávez' return. Flanked by one of the generals who had installed him in the presidential palace only a day earlier, Carmona asked the media bosses for help.

They obliged: shortly thereafter, the news blackout, which had started the night before, became total. Neither El Universal nor El Nacional published their Sunday editions. Globovisión's Ravell reportedly even called CNN's Atlanta headquarters to ask, in vain, that the U.S. network join the news blackout.
(snip/...)

http://www.thegully.com/essays/venezuela/020421_venezuel_media_coup.html

[Peace Patriot]

10. Sounds like the fascist press in Venezuela is even worse than our own--if that is

possible.

"Flanked by one of the generals who had installed him in the presidential palace only a day earlier, Carmona asked the media bosses for help. // They obliged: shortly thereafter, the news blackout, which had started the night before, became total. Neither El Universal nor El Nacional published their Sunday editions. Globovisión's Ravell reportedly even called CNN's Atlanta headquarters to ask, in vain, that the U.S. network join the news blackout." --The Gully

Newspapers are generally proud of their ability to publish editions after earthquakes and other disasters, or in difficult circumstances of various kinds such as power outages, war, or other disruptions. It's a tradition of journalism to get the news to the people despite every difficulty and hardship--a tradition that extends to broadcast media as well (staying on the air, or getting back on the air, in difficult circumstances). But look at what Venezuela's media did--they were determined NOT to get the news to the people. They shut it down. That may be even worse than publishing disinformation and lies. To shut down the news! That's a fine journalistic ideal.

At least with reporters present and cameras rolling--even if they are controlled by fascists and corporatists--something of the real story might come through. Hard to hide a million people surrounding Miraflores Palace. You might muffle their chant ("Give us back our president! Restore the Constitution!), but the visual would clue people in on what was really happening. The Katrina disaster here is a good example. Hard to hide thousands of poor black people abandoned without food and water, or the old dying in their own excrement, or bodies floating in the flood waters, due to the murderous neglect of the Bush Junta--even if corporatists are reporting it. The Venezuelan news corporations found a solution to that. If your side is completely in the wrong, the thing to do is to "black hole" all news--what the coupsters are doing, the state of the government, and what the people are doing, rebelling against the coup. Corporate news often "blackholes" stories they don't like--or distort the truth--and simply not reporting a story as big as a government military coup is a further extension of this same tendency. If reality doesn't suit corporate interests, change reality, or have no reality. (Coup? What coup?).

I guess this is why the Irish film crew entitled their extraordinary documentary of these events, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised."

What disgraceful behavior of El Universal and El Nacional, and Globovision (CNN south)! A newspaper deliberately not going to press is especially shocking. They managed to top the misrule of the US corporate news monopolies, and their shameless warmongering and shilling for the rich. They turned the entire notion of journalism on its head. Journalism's purpose now is NOT to report the news AT ALL--to wipe out reality altogether. (Not all of them did this. RCTV participated in the coup, hosted the fascist coupsters and aided and abetted their disinformation efforts--which is why the lawful government, when it was restored, later denied them a renewal of their license to use the public airwaves.)

But Venezuelans managed to create their own means of communication--and they had long been inured to the fascist twisting of news events and political rantings of the corporate media. They managed to figure out what "no news" meant. And they proceeded to create news ANYWAY--they saved their government, their democracy and their Constitution!

[Judi Lynn]

9. He didn't escape from jail, claims his wife. He fled to safeguard his life!

Venezuela arrests 29 people in prison escape of opposition ex-governor
The Associated Press
Published: April 3, 2007

CARACAS, Venezuela: Police arrested 29 people, including 11 jail guards, and were investigating whether a cake laced with sleeping drugs may have helped a former opposition governor escape prison over the weekend in northwestern Venezuela.

Eduardo Lapi, ex-governor of Yaracuy state, was reported missing by prison authorities early Sunday from the San Felipe jail some 350 kilometers (220 miles) east of the capital of Caracas, where he has been held for the last 11 months on corruption charges.

Yaracuy Security Secretary Oscar Baquero told the state news agency on Monday that 29 people were "preventively detained" in the course of the investigations. He added that 11 are Interior Ministry employees at the penitentiary.
(snip)

Lapi's wife told Union Radio that her home had been searched by police, and said he had fled "to safeguard his life from riots, rumors and strong threats."
(snip)

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/03/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-Opposition-Fugitive.php