Page 10A
NATION/WORLD
East Oregonian
All-powerful Venezuelan assembly
opens amid protests, celebration
By JORGE RUEDA
and JOSHUA GOODMAN
Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela
— Defying criticism from
Washington to the Vatican,
Venezuela’s ruling party on
Friday installed a new super
assembly that supporters
promise will pacify the
country and critics fear
will be a tool for imposing
dictatorship.
The
constitutional
assembly’s first order of
business was selecting its
head — former Foreign
Minister Delcy Rodriguez,
a loyal follower of President
Nicolas Maduro.
The nomination was
approved
unanimously
by the 545 delegates, who
marched to the neo-clas-
sical legislative palace
accompanied by hundreds
of red-shirted government
supporters carrying roses
and giant portraits of the
late Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s
predecessor and mentor.
Some shouted, “He’s
returned!” as a jab at the
opposition, which had
ordered images of Chavez
removed from an adjacent
building when it won control
of congress in 2015.
The assembly was sched-
uled to meet again Saturday,
and Rodriguez pledged
it would be taking action
against Maduro’s political
opponents.
“Don’t think we’re going
to wait weeks, months or
years,” she said. “Tomorrow
we start to act. The violent
fascists, those who wage
economic war on the people,
those who wage psycholog-
ical war, justice is coming
for you.”
The installation of the
all-powerful constitutional
assembly is virtually certain
to intensify a political
crisis that has brought four
months of protests that left
at least 120 people dead and
hundreds jailed. Maduro
vows the assembly will strip
Diplomat: U.N.
would ban $1B
in exports from
North Korea
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — A
proposed new U.N. sanctions
resolution would signifi-
cantly increase economic
pressure on North Korea to
return to negotiations on its
nuclear and missile programs
by banning mineral and
seafood exports worth over
$1 billion — a third of its
total exports last year, a
Security Council diplomat
said Friday.
The draft resolution,
obtained by The Associated
Press, would also ban
countries from giving any
additional permits to North
Korean laborers — another
source of money for Kim
Jong Un’s regime. And it
would prohibit all new joint
ventures with North Korean
companies, and ban new
foreign investment in existing
joint ventures.
Egypt, which holds the
Security Council presidency,
said a vote on the draft reso-
lution has been scheduled at
3 p.m. EDT on Saturday.
The
proposed
new
sanctions follow North
Korea’s first successful
tests of intercontinental
ballistic missiles capable
of reaching the United
States on July 3 and July
27. The Security Council
has already imposed six
rounds of sanctions that
have failed to halt North
Korea’s drive to improve its
ballistic missile and nuclear
weapons capabilities.
The draft resolution
condemns the launches “in
the strongest terms” and
reiterates previous calls for
North Korea to suspend all
ballistic missile launches and
abandon its nuclear weapons
and nuclear program “in a
complete, verifiable, and
irreversible manner.”
The United States spent
weeks following the initial
ICBM launch negotiating
the text with China, North
Korea’s neighbor and ally.
AP Photo/Wil Riera
A supporter of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is tossed into the air before
the start of a march to the National Assembly for the swearing-in ceremony of
the Constitutional Assembly, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday. Venezuelan President
Nicolas Maduro is heading toward a showdown with his political foes, preparing
to seat a loyalist assembly that will rewrite the country’s constitution and hold
powers that override all other government branches.
opposition lawmakers of
their constitutional immu-
nity from prosecution, while
members of congress say
they will only be removed
by force.
But the opposition is
struggling to regain its
footing in the face of the
government’s strong-armed
tactics and the re-emergence
of old, internal divisions.
Several opposition activists
have been jailed in recent
days, others are rumored
to be seeking exile and one
leader has broken ranks from
the opposition alliance to say
his party will field candidates
in regional elections despite
widespread mistrust in Vene-
zuela’s electoral system.
In a sign of its apparent
demoralized state only a
few hundred demonstrators
showed up for Friday’s
protest against the constitu-
tional assembly, one of the
smallest turnouts in months.
They were halted by security
forces firing tear gas and
rubber bullets.
“This is what the consti-
tutional assembly will bring:
more repression,” said oppo-
sition lawmaker Miguel
Pizarro.
However, Maduro accuses
his opponents of using
violence and argues that the
constitutional assembly is the
best way to restore peace. On
Friday he heralded members
of the security forces who’ve
been on the front lines
of the daily street battles,
claiming that 580 of them had
suffered serious injuries from
brutal attacks by “terrorist”
protesters.
“I feel deeply the wounds
of each one of you,” Maduro
said addressing a small
group of injured national
guardsmen scarred with
burns, on crutches and
wearing neck braces. “With
your bodies as your shield,
you have defended the right
to peace.”
Amid the rising tensions,
an increasing number of
foreign governments have
sided with the opposition,
refusing to recognize the
constitutional assembly and
further isolating Maduro’s
government.
On Friday, the Vatican
urged Maduro to suspend
the new body, expressing
“deep worry for the radi-
calization and worsening”
of the turmoil in Venezuela.
President Donald Trump
and his French counterpart,
Emmanuel Macron, agreed
that Maduro must restore
the rights of the Venezuelan
people in a phone call
Friday to discuss several
ongoing international crises,
according to a readout of the
conversation by the White
House.
Foreign ministers from
several South American
nations said they will gather
Saturday in Brazil for an
emergency meeting to decide
whether to evict Venezuela
from the Mercosur trade
bloc for violating its demo-
cratic norms. Venezuela was
suspended from the group in
December.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
BRIEFLY
Chicago to sue DOJ Sessions vows
over funding threat crackdown on
CHICAGO (AP) —
leaks of classified
Chicago Mayor Rahm
information
Emanuel on Friday said
the city will sue the federal
government in defense
of its status as a so-called
sanctuary city and against
threats to withhold U.S.
grant funds.
Emanuel told “Connected
to Chicago” on WLS-AM
the city will be in federal
court Monday arguing grants
can’t be withheld from cities
the administration says
aren’t cooperating enough
with U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement
officials. The interview will
air Sunday.
Attorney General Jeff
Sessions announced last
month local governments
would lose the money if they
do not give advance notice
when immigrants in the
country illegally are about to
be released from custody. He
also wants immigration agents
to have access to local jails.
Officials say Chicago
this year expects to receive
$3.2 million in Byrne Justice
Assistance Grants. The
money would mostly be
used to buy police vehicles.
“We’re not going to actu-
ally auction off our values as
a city, so Monday morning
the City of Chicago is going
to court; we’re going to take
the Justice Department to
court based on this,” he said.
“We find it unlawful and
unconstitutional to be, as a
city, coerced on a policy.”
Sessions this week
announced letters were sent
to four cities struggling
with gun violence, telling
them they would not be
eligible for a program that
provides money to combat
drug trafficking and gang
crime unless they follow
through on his suggestions.
The cities were Baltimore,
Albuquerque, and Stockton
and San Bernardino in
California.
None of the four has
declared itself a “sanctuary
city,” a term associated
with ordinances aimed at
shielding illegal immigrants.
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Attorney General Jeff
Sessions pledged on Friday
to rein in government leaks
that he said undermine
American security, taking an
aggressive public stand after
being called weak on the
matter by President Donald
Trump.
The nation’s top law
enforcement official cited
no current investigations
in which disclosures of
information had jeopardized
the country, but said the
number of criminal leak
probes had more than tripled
in the early months of the
Trump administration.
Justice Department
officials also said they were
reviewing guidelines put
in place to make it difficult
for the government to
subpoena journalists about
their sources, and would not
rule out the possibility that a
reporter could be prosecuted.
“No one is entitled to
surreptitiously fight to
advance their battles in the
media by revealing sensitive
government information,”
Sessions said in an
announcement that followed
a series of news reports this
year on the Trump campaign
and White House that have
relied on classified informa-
tion. “No government can
be effective when its leaders
cannot discuss sensitive
matters in confidence or talk
freely in confidence with
foreign leaders.”
Media advocacy
organizations condemned
the announcement, with
Bruce Brown, the executive
director of the Reporters
Committee for Freedom of
the Press, saying the decision
to review existing guidelines
was “deeply troubling.”
Meanwhile, a White
House adviser raised the
possibility of lie detector
tests for the small number
of people in the West Wing
and elsewhere with access to
transcripts of Trump’s phone
calls.