Venezuelan seeks asylum in Peru

A Peruvian lawyer says Venezuelan opposition leader Manuel Rosales has requested political asylum in Peru.

Rosales is a leading opponent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and has been charged with corruption in Venezuela. Rosales says his trial there would not be fair.

Lawyer Javier Valle-Riestra said the asylum request for Rosales was made Tuesday. He said a group of Rosales’ allies contacted him 10 days ago about the case.

Rosales, who lost a presidential race to Chavez in 2006, temporarily resigned as mayor of Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city, in March and went into hiding in response to harassment and fear that he was in danger, his party said.

Delsa Solorzano, an ally and party leader, noted that no court had ordered the arrest of Rosales and that he was still free to travel. She said it took some convincing by party leaders for him to agree to go.

“It was the best option due to the serious political persecution,” she said.

Prosecutors accuse Rosales of illegal enrichment from 2000 to 2004 while he was governor of Venezuela’s western Zulia state. They are seeking his arrest, but a court has yet to approve the charge against him or decide whether he should be detained while awaiting trial.

Rosales denies the accusation, calling it a “political lynching” ordered by Chavez.

Venezuelan Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami emphasized Tuesday that Rosales is charged with corruption- related crimes, not “crimes of a political nature.”

“If he doesn’t appear before the appropriate courts, he would be a fugitive from justice, and as a result the court will activate mechanisms for his international capture,” El Aissami told Venezuelan state television.

An attorney for Rosales in Venezuela on Tuesday defended his client’s decision to leave the country.

“He wasn’t going to have a fair or clean or impartial trial,” Alvaro Castillo said.

Venezuelans do not need a visa to enter Peru, and can stay as tourists for up to six months.