Eladio Aponte Aponte made his career in the military justice system which like military music is not what it is supposed to be. From there, when Chavez needed safe folks in his packing of the judicial system a few years ago, he jumped into the presidency of the penal chamber of the high court, TSJ. Once in place obligingly he made sure that many political opponents would find their rightly undeserved punishment.
So far so good, you may say, par for the regime. But that was not enough for the man. When Makled, noted narco-businessman of the regime, was finally caught in Colombia we learned among other things that Aponte had issued him security and clearance badges even though by then the unsavory relationships of Makled were more than rumored. Translation: Aponte was into just more than punishing opposition folks, he was into the narcobusiness. I suppose that the regime thought that sending to the public opinion scaffold Aponte would be a token big enough to pacify international agencies fighting drug trafficking. After all, many figures of the regime have opted for the well rewarded silence, or even light jail with silence. Amen of an easy embassy job in a far, far away galaxy. Aponte was disbarred a few weeks ago and did not even take the chance to go to the National Assembly to defend himself (the National Assembly in Venezuela names and removes justices under certain conditions).
Today we have learned that he not only has left the country, but that he is in talks with the FBI et al. Times are changing my friends, and self-immolation for the micomandantepresidente is becoming a "how many of them I can take down with me".