Interpol seeks arrest of opposition leader: Venezuela

[EFerrari]

Source: AFP

CARACAS (AFP) – Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for Venezuelan opposition leader Manuel Rosales, who faces corruption charges in his country but fled to Peru to seek asylum, police said Thursday.

Venezuela wants Interpol to give Rosales' case a maximum alert status for police worldwide, senior Venezuelan police official Wilmer Flores told a news conference.

A Venezuelan court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for Rosales, who failed to appear at an April 20 hearing on preventive detention pending his trial on graft charges.

Rosales, 56, is in Lima awaiting news of his asylum request. He denies the graft charges and says he is being politically persecuted by Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090423/wl_afp/peruvenezuelapolitics3rd_20090423223424