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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Eric15210 on May 10, 2010, 06:09:58 AM
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Reporting from Caracas, Venezuela, and Bogota,
A retired general and onetime confidant of President Hugo Chavez has been sentenced to prison in a case that revealed the divisions in Venezuelan society.
The retired general, Raul Isaias Baduel, was sentenced to a nearly eight-year prison term Friday night by a military court on charges of abuse of power, misappropriation of funds and violation of the military code while he was an officer.
Baduel's family criticized the verdict as unjust and said imprisoning him was a means of silencing a prominent critic. Baduel sent a Twitter message Saturday to family and friends saying, "God is with us and divine justice always present."
Chavez has denounced his former ally as a traitor. "The extreme right has found another pawn," he said in 2007 after Baduel criticized his policies. "Baduel is betraying years of friendship, solidarity and at the same time himself."
Baduel was one of a group of military leaders who helped restore Chavez to power after a short-lived military coup in April 2002. Chavez subsequently named him defense minister, but the two had a bitter falling-out, and Baduel resigned in 2007.
The officer, who took a secret oath with then-army officer Chavez and others in 1982 to free Venezuela from capitalism, later denounced the fiery anti-U.S. leader's socialist policies, saying they were ruining the country.
Baduel campaigned in 2007 against a Chavez-backed constitutional amendment referendum to advance the socialist model and to enable the president to run for reelection indefinitely, which voters rejected. Baduel has been in custody since his arrest in April 2009.
Charges against him included the misuse of $3.9 million, a charge the court said it proved through testimony of army officials who said they never received money budgeted to them.
Baduel's daughter Rayrin told television reporters that the verdict was rendered "without the slightest proof.... My father is an honest man and will always be."
The conviction comes in the aftermath of several arrests of opposition figures. In March, former Zulia state Gov. Oswaldo Alvarez Paz was arrested after saying Venezuela had become a narco-state and implying that Chavez was responsible.
Congressman Wilmer Azuaje was jailed for allegedly attacking a police officer, but supporters say the arrest was retaliation for accusing Chavez family members of corruption. Alvarez Paz is being held in a military prison, and Azuaje is under house arrest.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-fg-venezuela-chavez-20100509,0,1939475.story
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don't get pissed, just providing the other side. Over the years there has been a gigantic bias from US sources in reporting....
Mérida, April 3rd 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- On Thursday, Venezuelan authorities arrested former Venezuelan Defense Minister Raúl Isaías Baduel, who is charged with corruption during his term as minister in 2006 and 2007, and has repeatedly failed to appear in court when summoned.
According to Military Attorney General Ernesto Cedeño, national investigators summoned Baduel seven times throughout the year 2008 to testify about the disappearance of 31 million bolivars ($14.4 million) from the Defense Ministry's budget during Baduel's term as minister, and Baduel never appeared.
Venezuela's penal code establishes that a person who does not voluntarily present his or herself in court when summoned may be forced to do so and is considered to be at risk of flight to evade arrest, said Cedeño.
Last October, military authorities detained and questioned Baduel, then released the former minister on a conditional form of probation.
Since then, the investigation has uncovered "sufficient evidence for conviction" of Baduel, said Cedeño this Thursday, after authorities arrested Baduel, presented the charges against him, and read him his rights.
"It was necessary to implement an arrest warrant in order to make [Baduel] face the accusations against him," Cedeño said Thursday. "His rights to defense and due process are guaranteed."
A formal accusation is set to be filed within 30 days, according to Cedeño. Meanwhile, Baduel is being held in the Ramo Verde prison near Caracas.
Following his arrest, Baduel said the investigation is a form of political persecution ordered by President Hugo Chávez. "[Chávez] uses the justice system and the different public powers as mercenaries" and "gives the orders to those who perpetrate these acts of intimidation," said Baduel.
Baduel is a long time former ally of Chávez. Following a two-day military coup d'état in April 2002, Baduel, who was in charge of a military base at the time, was instrumental in bringing Chávez back to power.
In late 2007, after stepping down as defense minister, Baduel publicly opposed the Chávez government's constitutional reform proposal, which was subsequently voted down by a narrow margin in a national referendum.
On Friday, the youth branches of several opposition political parties said the investigations of Baduel and the opposition leader Manuel Rosales mark a new era of "repression and horror" in Venezuela, and accused the Chávez government of "criminalizing dissent."
The young activists, who are known for violent protests, called for increased protests in the coming weeks, as the anniversary of the April 2002 coup approaches. The activists are led by Yon Goicoechea, a former law student from an elite university who received a $500,000 award from the U.S.-based libertarian Cato Institute last year.
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/4351
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The up to date story:
Merida, May 9th, 2010 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – On Friday a Venezuelan military tribunal found Raul Baduel, former minister for defence and ally of Chavez who went over to the opposition, guilty of corruption and sentenced him to 7 years and 11 months in jail. Venezuelan media portrayed the verdict as a political silencing of the opposition.
Specifically, the military court found Raul Baduel guilty of taking $3.9 million in Armed Forces funds, crimes against military honour or decorum, and abuse of authority while he was minister of defence in 2006 and 2007. Apart from prison time, the sentence also includes a prohibition to run for political office and confiscation of goods obtained illicitly, the website Aporrea reported.
VTV reporter Boris Castellanos said Baduel diverted the $3.9 million that were under his authority away from where it had been assigned by the military administration. This was proven with testimonies by various military units that said they had not received the money, as well as testimonies, receipts, and bank documentation showing that some of Baduel’s relatives had benefited from or received money.
Hernan Medina, Lieutenant-Colonel under Baduel, was also found guilty of taking funds and crimes against military honour, and was sentenced to eight years prison, as well as the same prohibition to run for office and confiscation of illicitly obtained goods.
The tribunal said the full terms of the sentence would be published within ten days. Both men have been imprisoned in Ramo Verde jail for over a year and will remain there.
International and national mainstream media implied the sentence was an act of political repression. Such sources have also strongly criticised the level of corruption in Venezuela. The Wall Street Journal headlined with, “Critic of Venezuela’s Chavez gets 8-Year Prison Sentence”, the New York Times with, “Chavez Critic and Ex-Defense Minister Gets 8-Year Sentence” and the Los Angeles Times with “Chavez critic convicted in Venezuela”. However the BBC was less sensational with its headline, “Venezuelan ex-defence minister Raul Baduel jailed”.
Some national papers portrayed the sentencing as an act of revenge. For example, El Nacional headlined with, “Baduel’s sentence is a message to the FAN [National Armed Forces]” and “Retired soldiers assure that Baduel’s sentence is retaliation.”
On Saturday president Hugo Chavez stressed he had nothing to do with the trial or the sentencing and that he had found out about the sentence through the press. He said he regretted the turn of events, “We’ve known each other for many years, I know his family, sons, wife.”
Chavez called Baduel an “old pal,” who he had “fondness” for, “It hurts a lot, my soul hurts.”
Chavez also highlighted the range of evidence against Baduel and said the sentence showed that no one is “untouchable” in Venezuela. He said that the details of the case had been known for a while, and it was only when Baduel was discovered that “he came out attacking me so that later he could say that it was political persecution.”
Baduel was one of the four founding members of MBR-200, Chavez’s underground movement until the creation of the MVR and later the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in 2007. Also, in 2002 Baduel played a key role in defeating the opposition military coup against Chavez.
Then, in November 2007, after stepping down as defence minister in July, Baduel publically expressed his opposition to the president’s proposed constitutional reforms and encouraged people to vote against them in the referendum. Politically and publically, from that point on, Baduel sided with the opposition.
In April 2009 authorities arrested the former defence minister after having already detained and questioned him in October 2008 and summoned him several times throughout that year. Following his arrest Baduel told media that it was a form of political persecution ordered by Chavez.
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5348
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If someone in America did what the evidence and testimony shows Baduel did, he could easily get more than 8 years.
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It's amazing that someone will sit here and justify all these gross violations of power by Chavez (not saying this is one of them) by constantly parroting that the "US media paints him as the bad guy". No, Venezuelans and people who have left Venezeula are constantly painting him as the bad guy. That country is on the verge of collapse thanks to his glorious economic guidance. How's the electrical situation working out? LOL.
I think the only people that support this guy are Sean Penn, who is mildly retarded in real life, and some other braindead fucktards.
Better keep pandering to Iran and letting operatives from the Quds Force roam free in the country. That's sure to get him places. ::)