Former Venezuelan president Ramon Velasquez dies at 97

Caracas: Ramon Velasquez, interim Venezuelan president from 1993 to 1994 and critic of the country`s former dictatorship, died Tuesday, an opposition party leader said. He was 97. A journalist, lawyer and historian, Velasquez was chosen as head of state by Congress after Venezuela`s sitting president was ousted for embezzlement. An opponent of Venezuela`s dictatorship, Velasquez was jailed on several occasions in the 1950s but rose to hold a handful of political positions under the country`s subsequent democracy. Henry Ramos Allup, secretary general of the Democratic Action Party, announced Velasquez`s death on Twitter.