LIMA, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s top opposition  leader Manuel Rosales has fled to Peru and requested political  asylum to escape corruption charges he says are retaliation for  his criticism of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Rosales filed the asylum request yesterday after arriving  in Peru last week with several of his children and members of  three other families who oppose Chavez’s socialist policies, a  source close to the situation told Reuters.

Rosales is being advised by Jorge Del Castillo, a powerful  lawmaker and right-hand man to Peruvian President Alan Garcia,  the same source said.

“He is a democrat. That’s why he is helping Rosales,” the  source said about Del Castillo.
Garcia, an ally of Wash-ington and a fervent believer in  free market reforms, has often criticized a new wave of Latin  American left-wing leaders led by Chavez.

But Peru’s justice minister, Rosario Fernandez, said the  asylum case would be judged on its merits and that Peru would  not simply rubber stamp Rosales’ request.

A lawyer for Rosales, who says Chavez is turning Venezuela  into a dictatorship modeled on Cuban communism, told a radio  station in Lima his client has asked Peru for asylum.

Peru has accepted several Venezuelan asylum seekers in  recent years, including a union leader central to efforts to  force Chavez from office that led to a short-lived coup in  2002.

Chavez vowed last year to arrest Rosales, and the former  presidential candidate went into hiding last month after  charges of illicit enrichment were filed against him.

Chavez easily beat Rosales in a 2006 presidential election  and remains by far the most popular politician in Venezuela.
Even so, his government has pushed hard against opponents  in recent months, stripping them of powers and filing  corruption charges. The moves have put the opposition on the  defensive after it made gains in regional elections in  November.

Rosales, whose assets were frozen last week, is the most  visible face of Venezuela’s fractured opposition and is the  current mayor of the country’s second-biggest city Maracaibo in  the wealthy oil state of Zulia.

Prosecutors say Rosales cannot explain the source of  $60,000 he made while he was governor of Zulia and an  advertising campaign on state television accuses him of owning  million dollar houses and shopping malls in Miami.

A pretrial hearing originally scheduled for Monday was  postponed after Rosales did not show up. No arrest warrant has  been issued against him.

Corruption is widespread on both sides of Venezuela’s  political divide but graft investigations rarely focus on  government officials.

After a decade in office, Chavez allies control Congress  and dominate Venezuela’s supreme court. He does not control  many lower tribunals.