CARACAS, Wednesday October 28, 2009 | Update
Politics
Venezuelan ombudswoman Gabriela Ramírez said that the reports about the existence of people prosecuted and imprisoned in Venezuela for disagreeing with the government of President Hugo Chávez are a "campaign based on self-interest, launched by some opposition sectors."
Ramírez made her remarks in Spain, where she is attending the Fourteenth Annual Congress of the Ibero-American Federation of Ombudsmen (FIO), as reported by Efe.
"There are people in Venezuela who have committed crimes during public demonstrations (...) and the judge has decided to issue an arrest warrant" against them, said Ramírez, who is also the president of the Republic Moral Council.
The ombudswoman said that the increase of inmates in Venezuelan jails is due to the fact that "in the last year, the social pressure on the issue of insecurity has grown."
04:20 PM. Western Hemisphere. Colombian President Álvaro Uribe said on Tuesday that governments should ensure citizens' rights to live on the border, in reference to a political and diplomatic crisis with Venezuela and its effects on border residents.