Archive for August 17th, 2009
Monday, August 17th, 2009
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he has information that indicates that U.S. troops were involved in removing deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya from power and putting him on a plane to neighboring Costa Rica.
Zelaya told Chavez that when he was awakened by armed Honduran troops on June 28 he was taken to the U.S. military base in Honduras and that U.S. generals made the decision to send him to Costa Rica, Chavez said today.
U.S. President Barack Obama doesn’t understand what is happening in the region, Chavez said, and should close military bases in Honduras and Guantanamo, Cuba.
“I think Obama is lost, he’s confused,” he said on his weekly television program. “We’re not asking him to intervene in Honduras. To the contrary, we’re asking him to take the empire’s hands off of Honduras and its claws out of Latin America.”
Phone messages left at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas seeking comment weren’t immediately returned.
Zelaya has been seeking support to return to Honduras since his removal. Roberto Micheletti, the former president of the Congress, took over as the acting president.
Obama, who met with leaders from Mexico and Canada on Aug. 10, said that democratic order must be restored to Honduras. He also said that the same Latin American countries that asked him not to intervene in the region are now asking him to take action to restore Zelaya.
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Monday, August 17th, 2009
While search crews canvassed a rugged mountain region in northern Costa Rica on Sunday for signs of a missing Chicago doctoral student, friends and family of the man set up camp online to share stories, post updates of the investigation and provide comfort for those struggling with the loss.
By Sunday evening, 167 people had become members of a Facebook group dedicated to the search for David Gimelfarb, a 28-year-old psychology student who vanished Aug. 11 while hiking the remote Rincon de la Vieja, a 35,000-acre national park in the Guanacaste province. Gimelfarb’s family had become concerned last week when they had not heard from him in two days and park rangers had found the student’s abandoned sport utility vehicle in the reaction area’s parking lot.
Fearing the worst, the student’s parents flew to Costa Rica on Thursday to help Costa Rican authorities and the local Red Cross begin their search. Luda Gimelfarb, the student’s mother, also pleaded with officials at the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica to join the search, but they have yet to do so, she said. The embassy did not return e-mails or calls on Sunday.
Reached by phone in Costa Rica, Luda Gimelfarb said she was frustrated by the embassy’s response, but holding out hope her son could be found alive.
“I am just praying for him,” she said. “He’s an experienced hiker. He’s not a professional, but he’s experienced enough to take care of himself. All I can do is hope for a safe return.” (more…)
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Monday, August 17th, 2009
The founder of Internet- and telephone-based gambling operation BetOnSports has entered guilty pleas to three U.S. charges, including a racketeering charge, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.
Gary Stephen Kaplan, age 50, will forfeit US$43.7 million to the U.S. government as part of a plea agreement, the DOJ said. He pleaded guilty Friday to charges of conspiracy to violate the U.S. RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) statute, conspiring to violate the Wire Wager Act and violating the Wire Wager Act, the DOJ said. The Wire Wager Act generally prohibits gambling businesses from using wired communications to take bets.
Under the plea agreement, Kaplan would serve between 41 and 51 months in prison. (more…)
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