Wednesday, March 26, 2008

AN deputy Wilmer Azuaje has his sights set on the Chávez family in the president's home state of Barinas

Caracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): Careful preparations for setting up President Hugo Chávez' much-vaunted but long-awaited United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) have suddenly been overshadowed by another outbreak of rebellion in the ranks. Following in the footsteps of dissident National Assembly (AN) Deputy Luis Tascón is his parliamentary colleague, Wilmer Azuaje – and he has his sights set on the Chávez family in the president's home state of Barinas.

Reports reaching Caracas say Azuaje has filed two legal cases in a court against Argenis Chávez, one of the president's brothers. One accusation is said to encompass defamation and injury, the other focuses on individuals who are said to have acted for the Chávez family in property matters.

Just how far the two cases will get in Venezuela's frequently snail-paced judicial system remains to be seen. Any such misgivings apparently haven't deterred Azuaje from spreading his net as wide as possible.
Azuaje urged the court to investigate an individual named as Néstor Izarra. He's said to have acted as a front man in the acquisition of a ranch, La Malagueña, in the municipality of Obispos.

Documents submitted to the court are said also to state that Izarra managed another ranch, La Chavera, which is owned by Hugo de los Reyes Chávez, governor of Barinas state and the president's father.   Azuaje's beef with Argenis Chávez appears to have more than a touch of the personal about it.

El Nacional (whose antipathy towards the president is a secret to nobody) on Tuesday quoted Azuaje as saying the president's brother "has to demonstrate that I'm a malandro" – an epithet for someone on the wrong side of the law – "as he called me on his radio program last Saturday."

As if all this were not enough, Azuaje has also taken aim at Abraham Valbuena, head of the State Prosecutors' Office in Barinas, and his number two, Edgar-Ramón Sanchez. The irate deputy is demanding an explanation from them of supposed irregularities in an investigation he says went nowhere.




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