Venezuela: banana republic goes bananas

Posted: December 21, 2009, 9:05 AM by Diane Francis American oil, businessmen, Canadian mining companies and now the rule of law are being attacked by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.
Anyone thinking of going there or doing business. Think again.
Here's the latest injustice. On December 16, United Nations judicial experts condemned Venezuela’s arrest of a judge as a “blow by President Hugo Chavez to the independence of judges and lawyers in the country”.
This condemnation follows the release by Judge María Lourdes Afiuni of banker Eligio Cedeno and her subsequent incarceration. According to human rights activist and Cedeno lawyer, Bob Amsterdam of Toronto, Chavez went “crazy”.
Judge Afiuni has been jailed, denied a lawyer and Cedeno and his defense team are being sought by police.
The banker, accused of embezzlement, has become a cause celebre among human rights activists and attempts to have his case aired through due process have been fought along the way by the regime, wrote Amsterdam. Here is the time line of events:
n In 2007, the charges were brought against Cedeno without sufficient evidence. This was corroborated recently by to an affidavit by the lead prosecutor Yoneiba Parra. She said under oath that there was prosecutorial misconduct and other irregularities in Cedeno’s case. She was fired by the Attorney General and fled to Colombia where she now has political asylum.
n In February 2007, Judge Yuri López issued a ruling that tangentially favored Cedeño. That judge was also immediately relieved of her responsibilities and was subsequently granted political asylum in the United States.
n Last month, after an appellate panel in Caracas determined that Cedeño’s pretrial detention had exceeded the maximum legal duration, the appellate judge who wrote the opinion was demoted. The appellate court’s decision was subsequently suspended by the Supreme Court.
Now the release of Cedeno by Judge Afiuni.