US court awards $73 million for Venezuelan opponent's death
Source: Associated Press
US court awards $73 million for Venezuelan opponent’s death
By JOSHUA GOODMAN
September 20, 2022
MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge in Miami has awarded $73 million in damages to the family of a prominent opponent of Venezuela’s socialist government who died while in custody in what he described as a “murder for hire” carried out by a criminal enterprise led by President Nicolás Maduro.
Fernando Albán was arrested in 2018 upon arrival to the international airport in Caracas from New York, where he was part of a delegation that had denounced Maduro’s government on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. He died three days later in what authorities initially described as a suicide jump from the 10th floor of a building belonging to Venezuela’s intelligence services.
Albán’s death provoked international outrage and condemnation from the U.S. Last year, his widow and two children sued Maduro and several high-ranking members of his government for carrying out the kidnapping, torture and murder of the one-time Caracas councilman.
The family accused the men of belonging to the “Cartel of the Suns,” a purported drug-smuggling ring involving top Venezuelan officials and guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — a designated terrorist group — that allegedly sends 200 metric tons of cocaine from Venezuela into the U.S. each year.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-miami-caracas-eb1cd4c2c88df3192a10fe0119a855ae
