Axis of Logic
Finding Clarity in the 21st Century Mediaplex

News - Americas
Anti-Chavez Figure Indicted
By News Brief
Democracy Now .org
Saturday, Jul 9, 2005

A judge in Venezuela has ruled that an opposition figure who was received by President Bush will go on trial with three colleagues accused of conspiring to overthrow the government using U.S. funds.

Maria Corina Machado and three other members of her Sumate group, which helped organize a referendum against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nearly a year ago, are being charged with "conspiracy to change Venezuela's republican system." Chavez has called Machado a traitor after her Sumate group received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy. The judge ruled that the 3 would remain free until the trial took place. Machado met Bush at the White House on May 31.