VENEZUELA-SERRA Suspect extradited for murder of late deputy arrives in Venezuela

Record ID: 149584

  • Title: VENEZUELA-SERRA Suspect extradited for murder of late deputy arrives in Venezuela
  • Date: 30th May 2015
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (FILE - OCTOBER 02, 2014) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WHERE VIGIL WAS HELD FOR LAWMAKER ROBERT SERRA VARIOUS OF COFFIN CARRYING SERRA'S BODY ARRIVING AT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
  • Embargoed: 14th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8MLLB72811RWP3UJ34M8ON6P6
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The suspect accused of being the intellectual author of the murder of Venezuelan deputy Robert Serra arrived on Saturday (May 30) in Venezuela to face charges for the October 2014 murder.
    Leiver Padilla Mendoza, alias 'El Colombia,' was extradited under heavy security from neighbouring Colombia, where authorities said he fled after the brutal murder of Venezuela's youngest lawmaker.
    Padilla, who holds dual Colombian-Venezuelan citizenship, was captured in Cartagena six months ago. Last month, Colombia's Supreme Court approved his extradition.
    Venezuela's Interior and Justice Minister Gustavo Gonzalez thanked Bogota for its cooperation in the matter.
    "We thank the government of the brother republic of Colombia, its officials, its institutions, for their cooperation, collaboration, solidarity, reciprocity, in the detention of Leiver Padilla, alias 'El Colombia," he said.
    Twenty-seven-year-old Serra and his partner, Maria Herrera, were found dead in his house in the poor La Pastora neighbourhood of the capital, Caracas, state news agency AVN reported.
    At the time of his death, Serra was seen as one of the ruling party's United Socialist Party of Venezuela's (PSUV) most promising young leaders.
    Thousands attended his wake and President Nicolas Maduro spoke out against the crime, which members of the ruling party said was politically motivated.
    Both the Socialist government and opposition leaders in the politically polarized country lamented Serra's death.
    Venezuela has one of the world's highest murder rates. Officially, the government says the 2013 homicide rate was 39 per 100,000 inhabitants, but non-government organizations put the figure at nearly twice that for a total of 24,000 deaths.
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