CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s top opposition leader is seeking asylum abroad and will not appear in court to face corruption charges brought by President Hugo Chavez’s government, opposition officials said yesterday.
Manuel Rosales, who founded the A New Time opposition party and ran against Chavez in the 2006 presidential election, will address Venezuelans within 48 hours on the matter, said Omar Barboza, the party’s president.
Rosales’ allies say he is in hiding and cannot get a fair trial in the courts. Authorities said Rosales is unable to explain $60,000 in income and accuse him of embezzling the funds and avoiding justice.
“We have definitively decided that he will not appear before a court that has been converted into a political instrument,” Barboza said. He did not identify which country Rosales was appealing to for asylum.
The case has sparked criticism that the leftist Chavez, who last year vowed to jail Rosales, is using the legal system to carry out witch-hunts against opposition leaders who won key posts in November’s elections for governors and mayors.
