Four Released in Venezuela-Peru Child-Trafficking Case

Four members of an NGO which attempted to fly more than 100 Venezuelan children to Peru have been released without charge by authorities in Caracas following allegations of child trafficking.

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Juan Gonzalez, an attorney representing Venezuelan-Peru Union, the organization responsible for arranging the flight, said: "No criminal wrong has been committed here."

In its defense, the Venezuelan-Peru Union, founded by exiled opposition leader Oscar Lopez, accused Venezuelan authorities of acting "arbitrarily and without legal justification."

The NGO insists that each child possessed appropriate documentation to travel in order to be reunited with their parents in Peru for Christmas on a flight booked for December 15.

But Tarek William Saab, Venezuela's attorney general, described the incident as "unprecedented in our republican history" and insisted that the NGO was not properly registered with the state.

"The plot could be linked to crimes, given that the powers which granted the travel permits are fraudulent and the false travel authorizations were issued by a fake organization," Saab wrote on his Twitter account.

Testimonies from relatives of the children reveal that the paperwork was completed at the NGO's private offices, Saab said. Venezuela's Special Prosecutor in Vargas, David Gauna, has now been tasked with investigating the case.

The children have since been reunited with their relatives in Venezuela.

Article 266 of the country's Organic Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents establishes that anyone who "promotes, facilitates or executes" acts that allow minors to enter or leave the country "without observing the legal formalities" can be sentenced to between 10 and 15 years in prison.