Around two o'clock Wednesday morning, Negar Blanco, defense attorney for Richard Blanco, announced that Blanco will remain in the Yare prison as per the decision of the third control court judge, Jeanne Medina, upon accepting the accusations of serious personal injury and instigating crime. The attorney criticised the judge's decision, which took nine hours, and characterised it as inhumane. He reiterated that this is not a trial with the defendant's rights in mind. He said he does not understand why Blanco remains deprived of his liberty, when the alleged victim, a police official, did not recognise him as the attacker. Relatives and friends who remained in the courthouse for more than 16 hours expressed outrage at the position of the judge and blamed President Chávez for the security of Richard Blanco.
Farmers and ranchers from Guárico state rejected the land intervention measures that the National Land Institute (Inti) has executed since last Monday for nine farms located in San Jose de Tiznado. Farmers said that what Inti is doing, with official support, is a violation of their right to work and of the years they spent have working their land. Guárico producers gathered in the Dos Caminos sector to express their opposition to the land takeovers. Regional police officers were In the vicinity of the protest to prevent other farmer actions.
The hunger strike that 11 students began on Saturday at the Organisation of American States (OAS) headquarters in Caracas has now been underway for 72 hours, and 16 others in the have joined in the meantime in the states of Mérida, Aragua and Carabobo to reach a total of 27 students on strike. The reason for the protest remains the same: the political persecution of dissidents. Julio Rivas, chief coordinator of the strike, said they had already delivered to the Foreign Ministry a petition seeking permission for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) to enter the country. The student leader said that the protest may be increasing its efforts in the coming days, with the addition of students in Zulia state and workers from the Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), as a group of union members yesterday expressed an offer of basic support and that a group of workers were considering joining the strike.
Venezuela will use PDVSA resources to pay for commitments from a broad agreement signed with Moscow in various areas, including the purchase of Russian weaponry, according to Official Gazette No 39.312. President Chávez said in September after a visit to Russia that the Russians would lend $2.2 billion to Caracas to acquire military equipment, including tanks and missile systems, according to a Reuters report. "All necessary payments shall be made by PDVSA on behalf of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela from an account with the Russian bank Evrofinans Mosnarbank", he said, citing an agreement signed on 10 September. It furthermore establishes a provision for Venezuela of $6.4 billion in unspecified Russian goods and services. Venezuela would pay $900 million before 30 November to Russian companies, of which $600 million will be deducted for paying the Russian National Petroleum Consortium as an advance for access to Junin block 6, one of the operation sites in Orinoco Oil Belt.
After staying four hours in captivity, Monica Cabezas, the wife of the Trujillo Governor Hugo Cabezas, was released after 300,000 bolivars were demanded in ransom. Despite the secrecy with which detectives from the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations unit operate, it has been learned that last Sunday night various armed men kidnapped her in Santa Monica, who then called the former head of the Onidex, Hugo Cabezas, to demand a ransom payment of 300,000 bolivars in exchange for her release. Later, they lowered the amount to 50,000 bolivars and agreed to pay the sum in Plaza Venezuela, but when the kidnappers arrived there, the police presence awaiting them prompted them to release her at 2:30 am on Monday.
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