Month: May 2019

Maracaibo, Venezuela, May 1, 2019 / 02:39 pm (CNA).- The Archbishop Emeritus of Maracaibo demanded Wednesday the prompt release of peaceful demonstrators who were arrested the day prior during protests against the government of Nicolas Maduro.

Archbishop Ubaldo Ramon Santana Sequera said May 1 on Twitter: “I very much lament the detention of peaceful demonstrators yesterday here in Maracaibo. Among them are Cesar Perozo, an eminent cardiologist of international fame, and other doctors on his team. They should be promptly released.”

The streets of Venezuela were filled with demonstrators April 30 after opposition leader Juan Guaidó urged protests against Maduro, showing a video of himself with soldiers and with Leopoldo López, a fellow opposition leader who had been a political prisoner.

Guaidó declared himself interim president in January and has been recognized by a number of Western governments, but has been largely unable to secure the support of Venezuela’s military.

Both supportors and opponents of Maduro have been on the streets in Venezuelan cities since Guaidó’s call on Tuesday. The military responded to opponents in violent clashes, firing tear gas, and by arresting peaceful demonstrators.

Maduro said he had stopped an “attempted coup.”

Guaidó has called for continuing protests, and announced a series of strikes beginning May 2.

Under Maduro’s socialist administration, Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval, with severe shortages and hyperinflation leading 3 million to emigrate.

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Santiago, Chile, May 1, 2019 / 10:35 am (CNA).- The Chilean bishops’ conference signed a collaboration agreement with public prosecutors Tuesday to streamline the investigation of clerical sexual abuse.

The April 30 agreement is meant “to facilitate the exchange of information concerning past, present, and future investigations of delicts of a sexual nature commited by diocesan clerics against children, adolescents, or persons with disabilities.”

The agreement protects the “confidentiality requested by those who have gone to the Episcopal Conference of Chile” as victims or witnesses.

The bishops have consented to deliver evidence of abuse-related crimes to prosecutors within 24 hours of receiving an accusation.

Auxiliary Bishop Luis Fernando Ramos Perez of Santiago, secretary general of the bishops’ conference, said the agreement is an “expression of reciprocity, of trust between institutions united by the same cause. It is a step that challenges us in the work of offering ever greater guarantees to the victims.”

He added: “When it comes to seeking truth and justice in delicts of sexual abuse of minors, the Public Ministry and the Catholic Church are not adversaries but collaborators, because we are animated by the same goal.”

Bishop Ramos called it “a very novel agreement” on the world stage, urging that “the authorities of the Holy See look at it with attention, because it can serve to illumine” other situations.

Chilean prosecutors are investigating 166 cases of clerical sex abuse or cover-up, involving 221 suspects and 248 victims, according to Reuters.

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