Venezuela’s ‘doctor of the poor’ beatified in small ceremony
CARACAS, Venezuela — A man revered by millions of Venezuelans as the “doctor of the poor” is one step away from sainthood after being beatified Friday in the South American country’s capital.
Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernández, who died in 1919, was beatified in a simple and emotional ceremony, culminating decades of efforts by Venezuela’s Catholics. Mass celebrations were postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Apostolic Nuncio Aldo Giordano, representing the Vatican, said during the ceremony that Hernández “will be called blessed and celebrated every year.”
“It seems providential to celebrate the beatification of a doctor in the midst of a pandemic that affects all of humanity,” Giordano said. “In the figure of Blessed Dr. José Gregorio, the church today pays a tribute of recognition, gratitude and prayer to medical and health professionals.”
He added that Hernández is capable of uniting Venezuelans, despite their differences, even religious and ideological. Both government and opposition figures sent tweets Friday celebrating the first Venezuelan layman to be beatified. The other three are female members of religious orders.
Prosecutor probed over Capitol riot interview leaves post
NEW YORK — The former acting U.S. attorney in Washington, who was under investigation over an interview to CBS’ “60 Minutes” about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, has left the Justice Department and can no longer be subject to any potential disciplinary action for the interview.
Michael Sherwin is no longer an employee at the Department of Justice, agency spokesman Joshua Stueve said. He would not answer questions about whether the investigation would continue, even though Sherwin would no longer be subjected to any sanctions from the Office of Professional Responsibility.
Sherwin, who until recently was leading the investigation into the Jan. 6 riot, suggested during the interview that some of the rioters could face rarely used sedition charges, something he had suggested previously in several news conferences. Days before the interview aired in March, Sherwin was replaced as the top prosecutor in the nation’s capital.
Sherwin, who had been named U.S. attorney in Washington by then-Attorney General William Barr, was slated to return to his prior position as a federal prosecutor in Florida. For years, Sherwin had worked as a career federal prosecutor on drug trafficking, white-collar and top national security cases.
After leaving the Justice Department in recent weeks, he joined a law firm in Washington.
Sherwin had been planning for months before the investigation to leave the Justice Department and had stayed on at the request of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s transition team. He has been continuing to cooperate with the inquiry, even after he left the department, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person could not publicly discuss the matter and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
A judge overseeing one of the conspiracy cases that stemmed from the Jan. 6 riot scolded the Justice Department over the “60 Minutes” interview and warned that further press statements could lead to a gag order or sanctions. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said: “These types of statements in the media have the potential to affect the jury pool and the rights of these defendants.”
Venezuela gives US oilmen house arrest in gesture to Biden
MIAMI — Six American oil executives jailed in Venezuela more than three years ago on corruption charges were granted house arrest on Friday in a gesture of goodwill toward the Biden administration as it reviews its policy toward the politically turbulent South American country.
The partial release of the six employees of Houston-based Citgo was confirmed to The Associated Press by lawyers and family members of the men.
Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, Gustavo Cardenas and Jose Pereira were hauled away by masked security agents while at a meeting in Caracas just before Thanksgiving in 2017. They had been lured to Venezuela in order to attend a meeting at the headquarters of Citgo’s parent, state-run oil giant PDVSA.
The so-called Citgo 6 were granted house arrest once before — in December 2019 — only to be re-jailed two months later on the same day that President Donald Trump welcomed opposition leader Juan Guaidó to the White House.
In releasing the men, Maduro could be betting he’ll receive a better hearing from President Joe Biden, who on the campaign trail called Trump’s policy of regime change an “abject failure” that has served only to strengthen the socialist leader.
Grammys overhaul process for picking nominees for top awards
NEW YORK — The Grammy Awards have changed its tune and voted to remove its anonymous nomination review committees — groups that determined the contenders for key awards at the coveted music show.
The Recording Academy made the announcement Friday after the board of trustees met and approved the change. The decision came hours after The Associated Press reported that the academy was planning to discuss its nomination review committees and whether it was time to eliminate them.
“It’s been a year of unprecedented, transformational change for the Recording Academy, and I’m immensely proud to be able to continue our journey of growth with these latest updates to our awards process,” Harvey Mason Jr., the academy’s interim president and CEO, said in a statement Friday.
“This is a new Academy, one that is driven to action and that has doubled down on the commitment to meeting the needs of the music community. While change and progress are key drivers of our actions, one thing will always remain — the Grammy Award is the only peer-driven and peer-voted recognition in music,” he continued. “We are honored to work alongside the music community year-round to further refine and protect the integrity of the awards process.”
The major change comes months after The Weeknd blasted the Grammys and called them “corrupt” after he earned zero nominations for the 2021 show despite having the year’s biggest single with “Blinding Lights.” Nominees will now be based purely on votes made by the academy’s 11,000+ voting members, and the academy said that “more than 90 percent of its members will have gone through the requalification process by the end of this year, ensuring that the voting body is actively engaged in music creation.”
