Chavez Faces $2.3 Billion Scandal*** The Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) said Wednesday that it never received $2.3 billion from the government destined for a rainy day fund, plunging the administration of President Hugo Chávez into a major misappropriation scandal…………Influential afternoon newspaper Tal Cual charged Wednesday that the government had incurred into "a mega corruption" and said Chávez owed the nation an explanation and to reveal the true destiny of the money. "Without any doubt," said Tal Cual," it (the government) used part of the money to cover ordinary government expenditures, but a fair amount was used to finance the expenses and trips to Cuba of the Bolivarian Circles," the government's highly criticized militia.***
Venezuelan Coup Leader Escapes***CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The businessman who become interim president during the short-lived overthrow of Hugo Chavez escaped from house arrest Thursday and took refuge in the Colombian embassy, the foreign ministers of Venezuelan and Colombia said. Pedro Carmona has asked Colombia for political asylum, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Luis Alfonso Davila said. Davila did not say how the Venezuelan government planned to react. In Bogota, Colombia Foreign Minister Guillermo Fernandez said his nation would try to decide on the request quickly.
Carmona's escape came a day after an appeals court ordered him transferred from house arrest to jail. Echeverria said the ruling, which was cannot be appealed, violated Carmona's right to be tried in freedom. Carmona, 60, was being held pending charges of rebellion and conspiracy. He faces up to 20 years in prison. Carmona disappeared Thursday morning after going for a walk outside his home in a western Caracas neighborhood, his lawyer, Juan Martin Echeverria had said earlier. Echeverria had said he did not know where Carmona was. Secret police vehicles had been posted outside the apartment building since the early morning. It was not immediately clear how Carmona eluded the police.***