Venezuela charges 12 in murder of former guerrilla leader

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan authorities have charged 12 people in connection with the murder of a government supporter who was once involved in the abduction of an American industrialist. Among those charged Saturday is the wife of the slain man, Carlos Lanz. Authorities says she conspired with a boyfriend to pay hit men to murder her husband in 2020. Lanz led a cadre of guerrillas who in 1976 kidnapped William Niehous, who ran Venezuela operations for Ohio-based Owens-Illinois Inc. Niehous was rescued three years later and Lanz spent nearly a decade in prison. He later worked for the leftist government of the late President Hugo Chavez.