LIMA, Peru: Former President Ollanta Humala is being held in preventive detention at the same Peruvian prison where the ex-strongman he once tried to overthrow is serving a long sentence, authorities said Friday.
Humala and his wife were detained Thursday night after a judge ordered them held for up to 18 months while they are investigated on allegations of money laundering tied to undeclared campaign contributions from Venezuela and Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. They have not been charged and they deny the accusations.
Humala, who left the presidency in 2016, was taken by helicopter Friday to the same prison in the capital that is holding former President Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year sentence for corruption. Humala led an unsuccessful army uprising against Fujimori in 2000 at the end of his decade-long rule.
A helicopter took Humala’s wife, Nadine Heredia, to a female penitentiary where inmates include former Marxist guerrillas and major drug traffickers.
The case against the couple arose from testimony by the former head of the scandal-tainted Odebrecht in which he said he illegally contributed $3 million to Humala’s 2011 presidential campaign.
The couple also is accused of taking undeclared funds from the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez during a previous, unsuccessful presidential bid. Humala never declared the contributions and prosecutors contend he and his wife conspired to hide them for personal gain.
Authorities across Latin America have been moving to charge officials accused of taking some $800 million in bribes from Odebrecht. The company acknowledged the bribes when it signed a plea agreement in December with the US Justice Department.
The bribes include some $29 million paid in Peru for projects built during the administrations of Toledo, Humala and former President Alan Garcia.
The same scandal has ensnared former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was convicted Wednesday and sentenced to almost 10 years in jail for taking gifts from another Brazilian builder that along with Odebrecht paid bribes to politicians in exchange for government contracts. Silva denies the accusation and will remain free while he appeals what he says are politically motivated charges.
Peru’s ex-president Humala sent to same jail as nemesis Fujimori
Peru’s ex-president Humala sent to same jail as nemesis Fujimori
Cuba says a 5th person died after people on a Florida-flagged speedboat opened fire on soldiers
- Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops
- The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities
HAVANA: Cuba said a fifth person has died as a consequence of a fatal shootout last month involving a Florida-flagged speedboat that allegedly opened fire on soldiers in waters off the island nation’s north coast.
The island’s interior ministry said late Thursday in a statement that Roberto Álvarez Ávila died on March 4 as a result of his injuries. It added that the remaining injured detainees “continue to receive specialized medical care according to their health status.”
Authorities in Cuba said that on Feb. 26 Cuban soldiers confronted a speedboat carrying 10 people as the vessel approached the island and opened fire on the troops. They said the passengers were armed Cubans living in the US who were trying to infiltrate the island and “unleash terrorism”. Cuba said its soldiers killed four people and wounded six others.
“The statements made by the detainees themselves, together with a series of investigative procedures, reinforce the evidence against them,” the Cuban interior ministry said in its statement, adding that “new elements are being obtained that establish the involvement of other individuals based in the US”
Earlier this week, Cuba said it had filed terrorism charges against six suspects that were on the speedboat. The government unveiled items said to have been found on the boat, including a dozen high-powered weapons, more than 12,800 pieces of ammunition and 11 pistols.
Cuban authorities have provided few details about the shooting, but said the boat was roughly 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) northeast of Cayo Falcones, off the country’s north coast. They also provided the boat’s registration number, but The Associated Press was unable to readily verify the details because boat registrations are not public in the state of Florida.
The shooting threatened to increase tensions between US President Donald Trump and Cuban authorities. The island’s economy was until recently largely kept economically afloat by Venezuela’s oil, which is now in doubt after a US military operation deposed then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
