Venezuela's sacked chief prosecutor arrives in Colombia

Colombian migration authorities confirmed that Luisa Ortega Diaz and her husband German Ferrer landed in Bogota aboard a private plane from Aruba.

Venezuelas chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz holds a copy of the Venezuelan Constitution as she speaks during a conference in defense of the Constitution in Caracas, Venezuela on August 6, 2017.
Reuters

Venezuelas chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz holds a copy of the Venezuelan Constitution as she speaks during a conference in defense of the Constitution in Caracas, Venezuela on August 6, 2017.

Venezuela's former top prosecutor Luisa Ortega arrived in Colombia on Friday, migration authorities in Bogota said, after she was fired by a controversial new legislative superbody and said she feared for her life.

Ortega broke with Maduro in late March and became a vocal critic of his unpopular government, eventually going into hiding after the newly elected constituent assembly fired her earlier this month.

The assembly fired Ortega during its first session on Aug. 5, but she and some governments in the region have refused to accept the body's decisions.

"This afternoon the attorney general of Venezuela Luisa Ortega Diaz arrived from Aruba in a private plane to Bogota's airport and completed the corresponding migration process," Colombia's migration agency said in a statement.

Ortega arrived with her husband German Ferrer, a lawmaker who faced an arrest warrant issued by the pro-Maduro Supreme Court, the statement said. 

Reuters

Venezuelas sacked attorney general Luisa Ortega is married to Germán Ferrer, a socialist party lawmaker who recently spoke out against the constituent assembly.

Her replacement, ex-human rights ombudsman Tarek Saab, this week outlined corruption accusations against Ortega and her husband.

The couple are accused of running an "extortion gang" and funneling profits into an account in the Bahamas.

Colombia did not immediately say what Ortega's immigration status will be or if she is going to seek protection from the government of Bogota, which has joined others in making fierce criticism of Maduro as anti-democratic.

More than 120 people have been killed during often violent unrest against Maduro's government over a crippling economic crisis and what opponents call his increasingly authoritarian rule.

Reuters

A woman cries during a rally where opposition supporters pay tribute to victims of violence in protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduros government, in Caracas, Venezuela on July 31, 2017.

Colombia is among the Latin American countries which have roundly criticized Maduro, while also condemning a suggestion by US President Donald Trump that a military intervention was an option to solve the crisis.

On Friday,  the US  strongly condemned the assumption of legislative powers by Venezuela's new Constituent Assembly.

"This power grab is designed to supplant the democratically-elected National Assembly with an authoritarian committee operating above the law," a statement from the US State Department read.  

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