Venezuelan Police Jail Top Activist in Pre-Dawn Transfer

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  By camilo hernandez, associated press

BOGOTA, Colombia

A prominent Venezuelan opposition leader has been jailed again after intelligence agents picked him up at his home before dawn, a brazen move that the government said was necessary to prevent acts of violence but which has alarmed the opposition and human rights groups.

Patricia Gutierrez said that the agents from the Sebin intelligence agency arrived around 3 a.m. 

Saturday without notice at the family home where her husband, Daniel Ceballos, had been held under house arrest.

She said they put Ceballos in an ambulance, saying they were taking for a medical exam, but instead transported the former mayor of San Cristobal to the same jail in central Guarico state where was held for more than a year until August 2015, when he was granted house arrest for kidney problems.

His transfer to jail comes as the opposition vows a mass protest on Thursday to demand that authorities allow a recall referendum to go ahead. A successful "yes" vote this year would cut short President Nicolas Maduro's term and trigger new elections.

The government said it had intelligence that Ceballos was planning to flee before the Sept. 1 protests and carry out violent acts.

"The evidence compiled will allow us to continue advancing in necessary investigations to prevent, uncover and neutralize any act that aims to destabilize our democratic system," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Gutierrez published a cell phone video in which Ceballos and his daughter can be heard exchanging shouts of "I love you" as an ambulance is seen parked in front of an apartment building.

"This is how my daughter Victoria said goodbye to her father," Gutierrez said on Twitter. "The dictatorship isn't going to destroy my family. Freedom will come soon."

The transfer alarmed government opponents and human rights groups.

"Authorities in Venezuela seem to be willing to stop at nothing in their quest to prevent anyone from criticizing them, particularly as the political and humanitarian situation in the country continues to deteriorate," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at the rights group Amnesty International.

The 32-year-old Ceballos was the leader of a wave of anti-government protests in the restive western city of San Cristobal that rocked Venezuela in early 2014, leading to more than 40 deaths.

Fear of another crackdown has made it harder for the opposition to coax its supporters back into the streets. But as Venezuela's economy spins further out of control, with daily, blocks-long food lines and inflation topping 700 percent, calls for Maduro's removal have grown louder, even among poor Venezuelans who still revere his predecessor and mentor, the late Hugo Chavez.

Electoral authorities, who are widely seen as bowing to Maduro's demands, say it's unlikely a vote can be scheduled this year. If the ruling party can delay a vote until 2017, Maduro would be replaced by his vice president in loses, as polls indicate he would.

Ceballos was initially arrested along with several other activists of his Popular Will party, including Leopoldo Lopez. He's already served a 12-month sentence for disobeying a government order to remove barricades during the street protests but still faces civil rebellion charges.

He won a congressional primary from behind bars last year but authorities later barred him from holding public office. His wife then won by a landslide in an election to succeed him.

The U.S.-backed opposition has made the release of Lopez, Ceballos and dozens of other activists it considers political prisoners a key demand. Maduro considers the activists dangerous coup-plotters.

Schieffer's 'Face' reaches the 60-year milestone

By DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP) — The Sunday-morning public affairs show "Face the Nation" celebrates 60 years of broadcasts this week, making it the second longest-running television program on the air.

The reason this doesn't attract a lot of notice outside of CBS offices is because "Face the Nation" was created to compete with the longest-running show, NBC's "Meet the Press," which marks 67 years on the air this week. But host Bob Schieffer and his colleagues have special reason to enjoy this milestone now, since "Face" is hot and "Meet" is not.

Friday is the exact anniversary, 60 years to the day after the anti-communist crusading Sen. Joseph McCarthy came on to talk about Senate efforts to censure him.

"We still do exactly what we did on the first broadcast — find the key newsmaker and the biggest news story of the week, sit them down at the table and ask them questions," Schieffer said. "I'm very proud of that."

This Sunday, Schieffer will have separate interviews with President Barack Obama and predecessor George W. Bush.

Eight different people have moderated "Face the Nation," but only three since 1969: George Herman, Lesley Stahl and, since 1991, Schieffer. The courtly Texan, who's 77, has blown past a couple of planned retirement dates and now doesn't bother setting any expiration date on his tenure.

He's proudly old school about the show and its mission.

"Down through the years various people have tried to reinvent the wheel in dealing with these programs," he said. "We haven't. We think our mission is the same as it always was, which was to move the story forward. We're at our best when we do that."

In his first decade as host, Schieffer was overshadowed by David Brinkley on ABC and then Tim Russert on NBC. Both rivals are gone now. CBS benefits from the continuity, helped also by the strength of the "CBS Sunday Morning" show that precedes it in most markets.

So far this season, "Face the Nation" has averaged 3.2 million viewers, compared with nearly 2.8 million for "This Week" on ABC. "Meet the Press," which is trying to rebuild following the replacement of David Gregory as moderator with Chuck Todd, has tumbled into third.

One of his frequent foils, Arizona Sen. John McCain, said he knows Schieffer will challenge him but also give him the chance to get his point across.

"It's always tough but it's always fair," McCain said. "There's never a 'gotcha' question. At the same time, he gets to the heart of the issue that we're discussing at the time. I don't mean to compare the show to any other, but I don't think it's an accident that he continues to dominate the ratings."

McCain recently passed former Sen. Robert Dole to claim a milestone: with 101 appearances, he's been on "Face the Nation" more than any other guest.

"He's always a good interview," Schieffer said. "He's not afraid to give you a good quote. We kind of like that."

Schieffer is sensitive to any intimation of playing favorites, knowing that interest groups closely track the race, gender and party affiliation of Sunday show guests. McCain, as a former presidential candidate and Armed Services Committee member, has long been at the center of Washington debates.

McCain may have the most appearances, but former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (57 times) may have an unbeatable record. His first appearance was in November 1957 and his most recent one was this September, 57 years later.

Like many journalists, Schieffer got into the business because he's nosy and likes to talk to people at the center of major events.

"To me, 'Face the Nation' is the best job you can have," he said. "I don't even have to go to them. They come to me, half the time. It's a great privilege and also a lot of fun to be able to talk to these people, many of whom I like, some of them I don't like and some of them I can't stand."

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Follow David Bauder at twitter.com/@dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder

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Online:

http://www.cbsnews.com/face-the-nation/

Associated Press

Brazil readies election thriller

By Laura Bonilla Cal
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - A fiery plane crash that claimed the life of a popular politician has provided Brazil's presidential campaign with a dramatic plot twist worthy of a telenovela.

With just two weeks to go before millions of Brazilians heads to the polls on October 5, environmentalist Marina Silva, 56, has emerged from nowhere as a serious threat to President Dilma Rousseff's hopes of securing re-election.

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And it may end with election of the country's first black president.

Silva's rise is all the more remarkable given that she was not in the running for the highest office until the August 13 plane crash that claimed the life of the Socialist Party's original candidate Eduardo Campos.

Silva, his running mate, was subsequently installed as the Socialist Party's challenger and is now tantalizingly close to ending the 12-year rule of Rousseff's Workers Party (PT).

Silva's election would cap a remarkable journey for the veteran environmental campaigner, who was raised in a community of rubber tappers in the Amazon and only learned to read and write at age 16.

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The presidential candidate of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) for October's presidential ele …

Silva has her sights firmly set on surviving the first-round ballot next month to enter a runoff that most analysts project will give her a real chance of securing victory.

Unlike the first round of voting, Brazil's election laws grant candidates in any runoff the same amount of television and radio time -- a factor likely to benefit Silva's campaign.

The latest Datafolha opinion poll shows Rousseff widening her lead over Silva at the October 5 ballot, carving a seven-point margin from 37 percent to 30 percent.

However, a succession of polls have indicated the two rivals would be virtually neck-and-neck in a runoff, with many surveys suggesting Silva would be the likelier winner.

Daniel Alves, a political scientist at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, says that Silva's rags-to-riches backstory has struck a chord with millions of her compatriots seeking to lift themselves out of poverty.

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Brazil's presidential candidate for the Socialist Party, Marina Silva, and her vice presidential …

"Brazilians like to believe that everything is possible if you work hard and have faith," Alves told AFP.

"Marina Silva is mixed-race, was born and raised in the poor interior of Brazil, and now has a chance of becoming president of Brazil. She is the embodiment of the hope that Brazilians have."

- 'One egg and some flour, salt' -

Rousseff's allies however have attacked Silva, claiming that the presidential rival has the "face of a little saint" but would be likely to undo the Workers Party's social welfare programs that have raised living standards for millions of Brazilians over the past decade.

Silva has responded forcefully to the claims, insisting that her own humble beginnings prevent her from forgetting her obligations to the poor.

"Dilma, I am not going to stoop to fight on your level. Of course I am going to maintain family support payments, and do you know why? Because I was born in Seringal Bagaco (in Brazil's impoverished Acre state). I know what it is to feel hunger.

"The only food my mother sometimes had to feed eight children was one egg and some flour and salt, with a little bit of diced onion," she said.

"I remember once having looked at my father and at my mother," she continued, becoming emotional.

"I asked them, are you two going to eat? And my mother answered, 'No, we're not hungry...' but later I came to understand that there was more than one day that they didn't eat.

"Anyone who has ever experienced that could never do away with family welfare payments."

University of Sao Paulo political science professor Rubens Figueireido said the last two weeks of the campaign will be fiercely competitive.

"The big problem faced by Marina is that she has a very weak party coalition, and very limited financial resources compared to the Workers Party," he said.

"She has has a much weaker campaign organization, has had much less time on television and this is the first time that she is experiencing what it is like to be attacked as a candidate, because in 2010 (when she first ran for elective office) she was celebrated everywhere she went, and was not yet seen as a threat."

Chicago Teachers Challenge Emanuel With Walkout

By Tim Jones

Chicago teachers struck today, closing classrooms for about 400,000 students and prompting Mayor Rahm Emanuel to stop raising money for President Barack Obama’s re-election so he may devote time to settling the city’s first walkout in 25 years.

Months of tension erupted into open hostility last night when Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, called the work stoppage in the nation’s third-largest district. The teachers’ contract expired in June, and negotiations broke down over health benefits and job security. About 5 p.m., thousands of strike supporters gathered at school headquarters in the Loop business district waving placards and chanting; talks with the union, which represents 26,000 teachers and other workers, continued.

“Don’t take it out on the kids of Chicago if you have a problem with me,” Emanuel said at a church providing child care. Children stood behind him, while strikers in red T-shirts chanted outside. One held a sign picturing the mayor with horns.

The strike leaves Emanuel, a 52-year-old former chief of staff to Obama who is aiding groups advancing his re-election, caught amid conflicting interests.

Unions have been among the strongest supporters of Democrats nationwide, and are crucial to Obama’s prospects. At the same time, some of Emanuel’s wealthiest supporters have pushed for changes to the city’s education system. They include Penny Pritzker, a Board of Education member who is part of a Chicago real-estate dynasty, and Bruce Rauner, who is chairman of GTCR Rauner LLC, which manages equity investments.

Doing Homework

Emanuel is putting his money-raising super-PAC activities on hold and didn’t attend a scheduled appearance at a U.S. House Majority political action committee event today.

“The mayor’s first priority is the residents of the city of Chicago,” Thomas Bowen, director of Emanuel’s own political action committee, said in a statement. “He is committed to re- electing the president, but he must focus on his job as mayor right now.”

Emanuel, who didn’t participate directly in contract negotiations, called the walkout “unnecessary, avoidable and wrong,” and “a strike by choice.”

While the walkout provides the latest evidence of friction between public-sector unions and state and local governments, this strike occurs in one of the most Democratic cities in the nation and represents a major challenge for Emanuel, who took office in May 2011 casting himself as a nonideological problem- solver.

Romney Observes

“If it isn’t settled soon, Rahm looks like he’s not as competent as the Chicago mayoral tradition requires,” said Dick Simpson, a former alderman who is a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “If this becomes divisive enough, it could become a problem for all the unions, not just the teachers.”

Less than 12 hours into the strike, the walkout became an issue in the presidential campaign when Republican nominee Mitt Romney criticized the union in Obama’s home state.

“Teachers unions have too often made plain that their interests conflict with those of our children, and today we are seeing one of the clearest examples yet,” Romney said in an e- mailed statement.

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, told reporters that the president’s main concern “is for the students and families” and that “we hope that both sides are able to come together and settle this quickly.”

The president is a former community organizer in the city and represented Illinois in the U.S. Senate.

Baby Sitting

Emanuel delivered on a campaign pledge to lengthen the school day and year, saying more class time would improve student performance. He also stripped teachers of a negotiated 4 percent pay raise, prompting Lewis to call him a bully.

Teachers originally sought a 29 percent raise over 24 months while the board proposed 2 percent annual increases under a four-year contract. Emanuel said the board boosted the offer to 16 percent over four years. Emanuel controls the operation of the district, which faces a deficit of about $700 million.

Today, parents were forced to cope with the strike’s repercussions, trying to arrange care for their children before they headed to work.

All Alone

“It’s really chaotic,” said El Chan, an information- technology manager at an investment bank and the mother of two. “Both of us are working, I have no relatives, nobody I can turn to in town.”

“It’s hard to understand why they can’t work it out,” Chan said. “We love these teachers but, personally, we cannot risk our jobs either.”

Parents joined teachers on the picket line at Ray Elementary School in the Hyde Park neighborhood, a block from the private University of Chicago Lab Schools that Emanuel’s children attend.

“Anyone who knows teachers in Chicago public schools knows they’ve been under-resourced and disrespected for years,” said Michael McIntyre, 54, whose 16-year-old son attends Kenwood Academy, the public high school in the Hyde Park-Kenwood neighborhood. “It’s a horror show.”

He criticized the administration’s focus on exams.

“The only plan is to give students more and more standardized tests,” said McIntyre, who is chairman of the international studies department at DePaul University. “It’s like trying to make a calf grow by weighing it enough.”

Choosing Sides

At Stephen F. Gale Elementary Community Academy in East Rogers Park on the far North Side, about 50 teachers and supporters marched at the gate. Divisions took shape.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Amy Diaz, 29, as the picketers shouted.

Aretta Brown watched with her 5-year-old son, Michael, and 6-year-old daughter, Loretta.

“Rahm Emanuel is wrong,” she said. “He’s just wrong. He should give the teachers more money. We don’t want our kids in the street selling drugs and stuff.”

Emanuel has been on a collision course with Lewis and the union. The mayor repeatedly said that the school day and academic year were too brief and that children were shortchanged. He obtained legislative approval of a longer day.

Negotiators had been at the bargaining table since November.

Simpson, the former alderman, said there is a limited amount of time to settle the strike before positions harden.

“If it isn’t settled in a day or so, it could well turn ugly,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Jones in Chicago at tjones58@bloomberg.net

DNC Delegates Rage Over Reinsertion of God and Jerusalem in Platform

by Ben Shapiro
Tonight, the Democratic National Committee suspended the rules of the convention and inserted language regarding God and the State of Israel back to its platform. They had to vote three times to do it – and they had to lie to deem it passed, even though it was clear that the measure did not pass a voice vote in the chamber. The original 2012 Democratic Party platform had excised all mention of God and Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel.

Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio made the motion to change the platform:

    "This summer, I was proud to serve this party as the platform drafting committee chair. I came before you today to discuss the two important matters related to our party's national platform. As an ordained United Methodist Minister, I am here to attest and affirm that our faith and belief in God is central to the American story and informs the value we have expressed in our party's platform. In addition, President Obama recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and our party's platform should as well. Mr. Chairman, I have submitted my amendment in writing and I believe it is being projected on the screen for the delegates to see. I move adoption of the amendment as submitted and shown to the delegates."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, the head of the Democratic National Convention, got up and asked for a two-thirds vote on the amendments to the platform. He took a voice vote, with people stating aloud “aye” and “nay.”

The first time, he couldn’t determine if two-thirds of the voters had said “aye”; a loud “no” vote was heard. He asked for a second vote.

The second time, he couldn’t determine whether the voice vote had passed. Again. Villaraigosa looked around in confusion.

Finally, on the third attempt, Villaraigosa took a voice vote and simply declared, in the “opinion of the chair,” that it had been passed. There were widespread boos in the convention hall to the renewed inclusion of God and language about Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. And Villaraigosa was lying, in any case – there is no way that the voice vote had passed. Opponents stood up and protested, waving and shouting. The fix was in. The Democratic leadership had to ram a mention of God and a mention of Jerusalem through, violating their own rules, to avoid the fallout within their own ranks.

UPDATE: Multiple sources are reporting that this means that the Democrats will reinstate their 2008 language, which reads:

The United States and its Quartet partners should continue to isolate Hamas until it renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and abides by past agreements. Sustained American leadership for peace and security will require patient efforts and the personal commitment of the President of the United States. The creation of a Palestinian state through final status negotiations, together with an international compensation mechanism, should resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees by allowing them to settle there, rather than in Israel. All understand that it is unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations to be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949. Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel.The parties have agreed that Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations. It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.

Sources also report that the language was changed "to reflect the president's personal view." This is bull. President Obama has never recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and neither has his spokesperson or State Department. He has never taken a public position against the so-called "right of return," which would destroy Israel as a Jewish state. And he has publicly stated that Israel should use the 1949 armistice lines as the baseline of any future negotiations. This was obviously a political move designed to prevent disillusioned Jewish voters from leaving the Democratic voters in droves. If Jews are smart -- and if they watch this tape -- they'll realize that the base of the Democratic Party simply does not support Israel, even if the DNC quashes their votes.

Clinton staying as far away from Charlotte as physically possible

Posted By Josh Rogin

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as a sitting administration official, does not have any role at the Democratic National Convention next week in Charlotte. But she seems to gone out of her way to avoid the festivities, as she is traveling this week and next to the Cook Islands, Indonesia, China, Timor-Leste, Brunei, and Russia.

"The Cook Islands this year are the hosts of one of the most important institutions of the Pacific called the Pacific Island Forum," a senior State Department official said Thursday. "It's a group that meets yearly with a number of working groups. It's been in existence almost half a century; it's very significant."

It's not Charlotte, but it is a big gathering. Last year, the administration sent 50 officials to the forum, representing 17 different federal agencies. Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides led the delegation in 2011. The official said this trip was part of the administration's rebalancing toward Asia, with a special focus on the smaller countries around the region's periphery.

"Sometimes when we talk about the Asia Pacific, the A is the capital and P is small. And our attempt here is to underscore that we have very strong, enduring, strategic, moral, political, humanitarian interests across the region. It's an area in which we invested substantially historically -- blood and treasure," the official said.

"I just returned about two weeks ago from my own trip around the Pacific," the State Department official said. (Your humble Cable guy did did not attend the briefing, so we have no direct knowledge of the identity of the briefer, but the State Department publicly announced the foreign travel of Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell earlier this month.)

Clinton will meet in the Cook Islands with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and will be joined by Pacific Command head Adm. Sam Locklear, the anonymous State Department official said.

In Indonesia, Clinton will meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa. Expect her to press Indonesia to work better with other ASEAN countries to come to a consensus position on how to confront China over the South China Sea. ASEAN failed to come to a consensus position at the ASEAN Regional Forum in July, despite Washington's urgings.

Next, Clinton is off to Beijing to meet with President Hu Jintao, Vice President Xi Jinping, and State Councilor Dai Bingguo. She will also have "intense meetings" with Foreign Minister Yang Jiachi, the official said. Topics on the agenda include the South China Sea, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan.

"I think the secretary intends very clearly to underscore our continuing interest in maintaining a strong, positive relationship between our two countries," the official said. "We recognize how critically important that is, and one of the challenges before us is to demonstrate how we deal with areas in which we have differing perceptions and where we face challenging issues on the ground, or in this case in the water."

After Beijing, Clinton will go to Timor-Leste and visit a coffee plantation. Next is Brunei, which will host the East Asia Summit in 2013, probably after Clinton leaves office. Then, she will go to an island off the shore of Vladivostok for the APEC summit, where she'll lead a large U.S. delegation and will likely hold a series of high-level bilateral meetings.

Pressed to explain exactly how the administration plans to advance U.S. and allied interests related to the South China Sea dispute on the trip, the official offered few specifics.

"I would say that the United States has sought to articulate a very clear set of principles that animate our strategic approach to the Asia Pacific region, and particularly to the South China Sea. Those will continue," the official said.

"We have had very intense consultations with every key player in the Asia Pacific region. I think one of the messages that we seek to carry on this trip is that it is absolutely essential that cooler heads prevail in every capital, and that great care be taken on these issues, and that, in fact, all of  these complex territorial matters have existed for decades. They have been managed generally effectively for decades, and during this period we've seen some of the most manifest Asian prosperity. We need that to continue. This is the cockpit of the global economy, and so care must be taken across the board."