Venezuelan lawmaker and oncologist who protested crumbling healthcare flees
José Manuel Olivares says his family has received threats, along with many opposition activists forced into exile, arrested or barred from politics
Caracas — Opposition lawmaker and oncologist José Manuel Olivares, who led protests over Venezuela’s crumbling health sector, says he has fled the crisis-stricken country after his family received threats that they would be persecuted unless he quit politics. Olivares joins the growing ranks of opposition activists who have been forced into exile, arrested, or barred from politics during leftist President Nicolás Maduro’s crackdown on dissent. In a letter tweeted late on Thursday, Olivares said he was forced to leave Venezuela because his mother, brother and wife, who gave birth to their son a few months ago, had been threatened. "My brother had already received threats last year, and was even locked up in the (intelligence agency) SEBIN for several months. Now, as of a few weeks ago, my wife, mother, and brother received threats once again. They were warned that they would be persecuted and accused if I did not step away from politics and protests in the health sector," Olivares wr...
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