27 December 2011

VENEZUELA : Chavez Frees 141 Prisoners...But Not Judge Lourdes Afiuni.

                                          GUARDIAN/ T.PHILLIPS

     Despite a recent serious battle with cancer...and seeming re-embrace of spirituality... President Hugo Chavez appears unable to let go of a resentment against Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni.
    Chavez issued Christmas pardons for 141 prisoners...but not Afuini.
    Afiuni has been imprisoned since 2009...for releasing a banker with opposition ties.
    "In total 100 men and 41 women are getting out today, across the country. We must help them build a plan for life so they do not fall down again, because many of them have lost their direction," Chávez said.
      Though now under house arrest...Afiuni was held until February in a Caracas prison where she was reportedly repeatedly threatened with death.
      She is a single mother and also a cancer patient.