CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan authorities have captured a former Colombian senator wanted on charges of conspiring with paramilitaries to kidnap a reputed political rival.
The former politician Alvaro Araujo Noguera was detained by Venezuela's National Guard while in a vehicle in the western city of Maracaibo, Colombian Ambassador Fernando Marin told Venezuela's state news agency.
The 75-year-old, also a former agriculture minister and state governor, was brought to Caracas after his capture on Thursday, and officials were making preparations for him to be returned to Colombia, Marin told the state-run Bolivarian News Agency.
The former political boss faces charges stemming from a 2002 kidnapping involving outlawed right-wing paramilitary fighters.
The accusations have embroiled Araujo Noguera's family in a major political scandal and prompted his daughter to step down as foreign minister. Araujo Noguera had been wanted for a year and a half, and his son also was jailed last year on charges related to the same case. |