LatinNews Daily Report - 15 May 2012

FOREIGN RELATIONS | Maduro says US must hand over Aponte. On 14 May Venezuela’s foreign minister Nicolás Maduro stated that the US is obliged to comply with an Interpol red notice and deport a Venezuelan judge, Eladio Aponte Aponte, wanted in Caracas on suspicion of involvement with drug trafficking groups. Aponte Aponte is believed to be cooperating with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and recently gave a TV interview in which he accused the Venezuelan government of interfering in the justice system. He also suggested that senior Venezuelan officials have links to the drug trafficking business. “Once again the US shows itself to be a protector of delinquents, as well as using organisations that it politically directs to weaken and destroy the processes of change in Latin America”, Maduro stated. Maduro made his comments from Caracas alongside Ecuador’s foreign minister Ricardo Patiño, where the two signed four cooperation accords on energy and trade and also discussed Venezuela‘s proposed withdrawal from the Inter American Commission on Human Rights.

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