A court in Venezuela on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Manuel Rosales Guerrero, who fled to Peru and applied for asylum there after being charged with corruption in his home country.
The court asked the Interpol to detain Rosales in Peru, and said that it was seeking the opposition leader's arrest as he failed to appear at the preliminary hearing of a corruption case against him.
Rosales, who has been in hiding since the corruption charges were filed last month, filed an asylum request in Peru on Tuesday after arriving in Lima several days ago. He says that the corruption charges against him are politically motivated.
Rosales, who ran against Venezuelan Hugo President Chavez in the 2006 election, stepped down as mayor of Maracaibo, the country's second largest city, after being charged with amassing illicit wealth.
Prosecutors say Rosales cannot explain the source of $60,000 he made while serving as the governor of the oil-rich state of Zulia.
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