Venezuelan lawmaker Serra buried

4 October 2014 Last updated at 01:38 During the funeral, Mr Maduro (centre) accused right wingers of being behind the murders Thousands of Venezuelans have paid their last respects to governing party member of parliament Robert Serra.

Mr Serra and his partner Maria Herrera were found dead at their home on Wednesday night in Caracas.

President Nicolas Maduro and other government officials joined a procession that accompanied the coffins through the streets of Caracas.

Mr Maduro has blamed “ultra-right” opposition groups in the country and in neighbouring Colombia for the murder.

Mr Serra and Ms Herrera were reported to be have been stabbed.

They were buried at a local cemetery after a brief religious ceremony, attended by Mr Maduro.

In tears, Mr Maduro sang the national anthem and songs praising the Bolivarian Revolution – the movement launched in the 1990s by late President Hugo Chavez.

“I know this cemetery very well, because there are Venezuelan martyrs resting in every corner of it,” said Mr Maduro at the cemetery.

“The crowds have been calling for justice. Rest assured that we will, sooner rather than later, arrest those who committed this crime. They have been identified.

“But, more importantly, we will identify the masterminds of these murders. They are abroad, in Colombia and in Miami,” said Mr Maduro.

‘Political murder’

Earlier, thousands of people queued up outside the National Assembly building to pay their respects.

Mr Serra was 23 when he was first elected to the National Assembly Thousands of people accompanied the coffins through the streets of Caracas

Mr Serra, 27, was the youngest member of the National Assembly and was seen a rising star in the governing United Socialist Party (PSUV).

Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world, but the Venezuelan authorities have said Mr Serra was the victim of a political crime.

“This is a political murder, committed to intimidate other young people and try to keep them away from politics,” said Diosdado Cabello, president of the National Assembly.

The Venezuelan government has declared three days of national mourning.

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Venezuelan lawmaker Serra buried

Venezuelan version of Lord’s Prayer invokes dead leader Chavez

Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chavez greets a crowd in Vienna, Austria. (Credit: Caribbean360 / Bigstock)

CARACAS, Venezuela, Thursday September 11, 2014 – Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chavez has almost been elevated to the status of a deity by many of his former followers, so there was nothing unusual about a Chavista congresswoman going to some length to honour her former leader.

But in the best traditions of “it’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it,” it was how she did it that sent shockwaves rippling far beyond her country’s borders.

Last week, at an event in Caracas, Maria Estrella Uribe delivered a novel version of the Lord’s Prayer, adapting the original words to pay homage to Chavez, because they could not “leave without this spiritual commitment,” according to a report in La Patilla.

The “spiritual commitment” translated from Spanish as follows:

“Our Chavez, who art in Heaven, in earth, in the sea and in us the delegates, hallowed be Thy name. Thy legacy come to us to take to the people … gives us today your light to that it guides us all days and lead us not into the temptation of capitalism, deliver us from evil, oligarchy and the crime of smuggling, for centuries of centuries.”

After the customary “Amen,” the congresswoman wrapped up her prayer with a spirited “Viva Chavez!”

The socialist leader died in March 2013 after a long battle with cancer. He was succeeded by former Vice President Nicolas Maduro, whose administration has been beset by shortages of everything from toilet paper to basic food items, as well as high inflation and escalating crime.

The shortage of many staples, aggravated by the economic crisis, led thousands of people in Venezuela’s western states to take to the streets in protest in January, with demonstrations quickly spreading to the rest of the country.

The food shortages continue to be so severe that the government is mandating that people scan their fingerprints at grocery stores in an attempt to prevent people from buying too much of a single item.

President Maduro did not specify when the system would take effect, but other senior officials have said it could be in place by the end of the year.

Critics say the initiative is tantamount to food rationing and constitutes a breach of privacy.

Others simply put the blame for the country’s chronically bare shelves on the failed left-wing policies of the past 15 years, initiated by “Our Chavez who art in Heaven.”

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Venezuelan version of Lord’s Prayer invokes dead leader Chavez

Venezuelan arrested for swallowing money case deferred

Christopher Thomas, STAR Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

The case against a Venezuelan man, who reportedly swallowed approximately US$103,000 (J$11,446,924.57) to avoid declaring the money to customs earlier this year, has been set for mention on July 16, as the defendant has been hospitalised.

Eddie Ortega, a 40-year-old businessman from San Antonio in Venezuela, was expected to appear before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court last Friday. However, presiding magistrate Wilson Smith deferred the matter after being told that Ortega, who has been in police custody, had been taken to hospital.

interviewed

It is alleged that on January 20, Ortega arrived at the Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay. While he was in the line waiting to be processed, officers, acting on information, approached him and subsequently interviewed him.

Ortega was later transported to hospital, where he excreted a number of parcels, which were found to contain money amounting to US$103,000. Following this, he was arrested.

“I understand he (Ortega) is in hospital at the Cornwall Regional Hospital,” clerk of the court Natalie Malcolm told RM Smith, though she did not detail the nature of Ortega’s medical complaint.

“Is he admitted?” asked RM Smith.

“Yes, Your Honour. We will ask that the matter be set for mention,” said Malcolm.

RM Smith subsequently set the case to be heard on July 16.

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Venezuelan arrested for swallowing money case deferred

Venezuelan President to meet regional leaders

Latest News

Friday, June 28, 2013 | 7:59 AM

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (CMC) — Venezuela’s President Nicholas Maduro is scheduled to pay his first official visit to the Trinidad and Tobago when he attends the 34th meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders here next month. Maduro, who was elected back in April following the death of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, is among two other special guests invited by Caribbean leaders to attend the four-day summit which coincides with the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas.President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina as well as President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo will also attend the meeting.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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Venezuelan President to meet regional leaders