Maduro’s opponents brave tear gas in push to deliver aid
CUCUTA, Colombia — Opponents of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro braved tear gas as they rescued boxes of emergency food and medicine from burning trucks during violent clashes on the Colombian border with security forces blocking the entry of U.S.-supplied humanitarian aid.
The panicked scene Saturday on the binational Santander bridge was the dramatic high point of a day that also saw two people killed in unrest near Brazil, at least 23 soldiers switch loyalties to opposition leader Juan Guaido, and Maduro break off diplomatic relations with Colombia amid an increasingly unpredictable and unruly fight for power in the oil-rich South American nation.
For weeks, the opposition has been amassing aid on three of Venezuela’s borders with the aim of launching a “humanitarian avalanche” exactly one month after Guaido declared himself interim president at an outdoor rally in a direct challenge to Maduro’s rule.
Even as the 35-year-old lawmaker has won the backing of more than 50 governments around the world, he’s so far been unable to cause a major rift inside the military — the socialist leader’s last-remaining plank of support in a country ravaged by hyperinflation and widespread shortages.
“Our call to the armed forces couldn’t be clearer: put yourself on the right side of history,” Guaido said in an appeal to troops as he pulled himself onto a truck and shook hands with its driver during a ceremonial send-off of the aid convoy from the Colombian city of Cucuta.
Mueller: Manafort ‘brazenly violated the law’ for years
WASHINGTON — Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort committed crimes that cut to “the heart of the criminal justice system” and over the years deceived everyone from bookkeepers and banks to federal prosecutors and his own lawyers, according to a sentencing memo filed Saturday by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office.
In the memo, submitted in one of two criminal cases Manafort faces, prosecutors do not yet take a position on how much prison time he should serve or whether to stack the punishment on top of a separate sentence he will soon receive in a Virginia prosecution. But they do depict Manafort as a longtime and unrepentant criminal who committed “bold” crimes, including under the spotlight of his role as campaign chairman and later while on bail, and who does not deserve any leniency.
“For over a decade, Manafort repeatedly and brazenly violated the law,” prosecutors wrote. “His crimes continued up through the time he was first indicted in October 2017 and remarkably went unabated even after indictment.”
Citing Manafort’s lies to the FBI, several government agencies and his own lawyer, prosecutors said that “upon release from jail, Manafort presents a grave risk of recidivism.”
The 25-page memo, filed in federal court in Washington, is likely the last major filing by prosecutors as Manafort heads into his sentencing hearings next month and as Mueller’s investigation approaches a conclusion. Manafort, who has been jailed for months and turns 70 in April, will have a chance to file his own sentencing recommendation next week. He and his longtime business partner, Rick Gates, were the first two people indicted in the special counsel’s investigation. Overall, Mueller has produced charges against 34 individuals, including six former Trump aides, and three companies.
Manafort was found guilty in 2018 of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining 10 counts, and the judge declared a mistrial on those charges.
Sheriff: No likely survivors in jetliner crash near Houston
HOUSTON — A Boeing 767 cargo jetliner heading to Houston with three people aboard disintegrated after crashing Saturday into a bay east of the city, according to a Texas sheriff.
Witnesses told emergency personnel that the twin-engine plane “went in nose first,” leaving a debris field three-quarters of a mile long in Trinity Bay, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said.
“It’s probably a crash that nobody would survive,” he said, referring to the scene as “total devastation.”
Witnesses said they heard the plane’s engines surging and that the craft turned sharply before falling into a nosedive, Hawthorne said.
Aerial footage shows emergency personnel walking along a spit of marshland flecked by debris that extends into the water.
Buffett encourages investors to bet on American economy
OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett says the company he built through decades of acquisitions continues to perform well even though he hasn’t found any major deals at attractive prices recently.
Buffett released his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders on Saturday. He wrote that investors should continue betting on the American economy because Berkshire has prospered by doing so, but that they shouldn’t forget about the rest of the world.
“There are also many other countries around the world that have bright futures. About that, we should rejoice: Americans will be both more prosperous and safer if all nations thrive,” Buffett wrote. “At Berkshire, we hope to invest significant sums across borders.”
From wire sources
Buffett’s letter is always well-read in the business world because of his remarkable track record, his habit of dissecting the economy or other topics and his talent for explaining complicated subjects in plain language.
But in recent years he has simplified his letters and focused mostly on Berkshire’s businesses. The sage advice and wit that used to make Buffett’s letters must-read publications is now reserved mostly for the company’s annual meeting and interviews.
