Venezuelan Opposition Legislator Caught Accepting Bribe
New political turmoil rocked today the opposition leadership in Venezuela and its main candidate Enrique Capriles in the wake of explosive allegations against one of his closest associates, legislator Juan Carlos Caldera, for accepting bribes.
Caldera is a member of the Capriles-led Primero Justicia party in the National Assembly and also a candidate to the post of mayor in Sucre municipality, in the state of Miranda, as well as representative of Capriles’s campaign team before the National Electoral Council.
A group of members of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in Parliament, led by legislator Julio Chavez, denounced Caldera’s alleged corruption, as he appears in a video receiving cash from abroad and instructions on what to do.
Caldera and the person giving him the money talk about arranging a meeting between Capriles and the person sending the money from abroad, identified as “the boss”, but to be held out side of the national territory for “security reasons.”
The purpose of the bribe was not defined in the talk between the two men, and the one giving the money could not be identified, but it is obvious that it is related to the electoral campaign, and opposition destabilizing actions have not been ruled out.
After reporting the bribe, the socialist legislators gave the evidence to the Executive Board of parliament, and President of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, said they will be brought to the Attorney General’s Office and other relevant bodies.
He said the leadership of the Assembly willappoint a special commission to probe into events in the video.
In an immediate reaction in a press conference broadcast live by private Globovision, Capriles denied any link to the alleged act of corruption committed by one of his closest associates and declared him suspended from the Primero Justicia party.
These events add to those staged by ex governor of Anzoategui, David de Lima, and later by Un Nuevo Tiempo party legislator, William Ojeda, who were expelled from the opposition ranks for denouncing Capriles government program.
Because of threats posed by the Capriles openly neoliberal program, which had been kept in secret until recently, four parties decided on Sep. 11 to withdraw their electoral backing to the opposition candidate.
Clinton Blasts Anti-Islam Movie
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the film that triggered anti-American riots across the Middle East “disgusting and reprehensible” on Thursday.
“Let me state very clearly – and I hope it is obvious – that the United States Government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message,” Clinton said at a meeting with her Moroccan counterpart Saad-Eddine Al-Othmani in Washington.
“But as I said yesterday, there is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence. We condemn the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms,” she added.
U.S. diplomatic missions in Egypt, Yemen and Libya were attacked earlier this week over the film, “Innocence of Muslims,” which mocks Islam and Prophet Muhammad. Hundreds of people were injured in clashes with police, and about 20 were killed, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.
Ruling Dutch Party Wins General Elections
For the second time in a row, the Dutch general elections are won by outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s ruling party VVD, with the rival Labor Party (PvdA) finishing second after 98 percent of the votes counted.
The VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy) won 41, ten more than in 2010, out of the total 150 parliamentary seats, while the Labor Party (PvdA) got 39 seats. The number of seats of both parties was much higher than the poll in recent weeks.
The VVD, which also won the previous elections two years ago, was leading the polls for weeks, but the PvdA led by Diederik Samsom made a strong comeback. It finally ended up in a big battle between the center-left and the center-right.
“Never in history the VVD has been so big as tonight, a beautiful result,” said Rutte during his victory party in The Hague. “This is a big boost to continue with the policy to get this beautiful country stronger out of the crisis and get the Dutch economy growing again.”
“One thing is for certain,” Samson said at his party in Amsterdam. “We do not continue the way of the past two years. Things will change. We will go for a stronger and more social Netherlands. But tonight is not the final stop, it’ s the beginning of a long campaign. Because the way to a stronger and more social Netherlands is not easy.”
The right-wing populist anti-EU PVV (Party of Freedom) of Geert Wilders went down from 24 seats in the previous elections in 2010 to 15 now. The CDA (Christian Democrats) also declined to 13 (was 21), while Socialist Party SP stayed on the same number (15).
PvdA and VVD could form a majority government together, but that was not the preference of both sides before the elections. Both parties will first start to talk to each other and CDA and D66 might also play a role in the formations of a new government.
“We need a stable government and we want to be part of it,” said Samsom. “But we want our beliefs coming through in the government policy.”