Posted on 02/21/2003 3:37:14 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Friday railed against international criticism over the arrest of one of his opponents who was detained for leading a strike against the leftist leader.
A squadron of plainclothes police on Friday hustled a grim-faced Carlos Fernandez into the attorney general's office, where he faces civil rebellion and treason charges for spearheading the two-month strike that battered the economy of the world's No. 5 oil exporter.
His arrest late Wednesday at gunpoint drew fire from international organizations and the United States, which said it feared the move would undermine negotiations to end the bitter political feud over the president's rule.
"We are nobody's colony," Chavez roared at a crowd of supporters in western Trujillo state. "We have our own institutions, our own constitution ... and we will not accept meddling in Venezuela's domestic affairs."
DISIP state security police on Friday were still holding Fernandez, a silver-haired trucking executive who leads the Fedecamaras business chamber. He was not formally charged.
Armed officers snatched Fernandez from outside a Caracas restaurant around midnight Wednesday after a judge ordered him and another strike leader, union boss Carlos Ortega, arrested. Ortega, a fierce Chavez critic, has gone into hiding.
Opponents of the populist president, who they accuse of trampling over democracy, have slammed the arrest as illegal and urged the international community to prevent what they fear will descend into a political witch hunt.
They say the judge's decision was politically motivated although the attorney general, a staunch Chavez ally, rejected their claims. The president has repeatedly demanded judges jail his critics.
"Carlos Fernandez is a political prisoner," said Fedecamaras vice president Albis Munoz.
OPPOSITION FEARS OF CRACKDOWN
His arrest, coming shortly after the murky deaths of three dissident soldiers and an anti-Chavez protester, stoked opposition fears of a government crackdown. Police say the four deaths are likely linked to a grudge though relatives blame political persecution.
Amnesty International on Friday joined a chorus of concern in expressing worry for Venezuela's human rights situation and calling for an independent investigation into the killings.
"The judiciary has a key role in preventing these events from triggering an escalation of the human rights crisis," the group said in a statement.
Chavez, who dismisses his critics as "terrorists" and "fascists," has hardened his position against his foes after their strike failed to topple his self-styled revolutionary government. He calls 2003 the "year of the offensive."
The Venezuelan leader, who was elected in 1998 and survived a coup in April, has vowed to defeat opponents he says tried to sabotage the oil industry. The strike briefly choked off oil exports that account for half of the state's revenues.
But opposition leaders say they seek only to press Chavez into elections. Three months of negotiations chaired by the Organization of American States have made little headway. Chavez has so far resisted opposition demands that he accept an early vote to defuse the nation's crisis.
I can't wait till he's dead. That's the only way dictators ever get off that pedestal.
Absolutely. The problem in Iraq is actually simpler to deal with, its a nice clean military problem. The problem in Latin America is going to require a very intelligent combination of political work and targeted military and diplomatic work, and the trick is that to be effective none of it can have our fingerprints on it.
The problem is that socialism, or perhaps better said, "populism", is almost universal in the political culture, and it leads to the kinds of state-run economies that drive themselves into the ground. And when it happens, their only solution is more socialism.
There is nothing approximating American style conservatism. There are only various gradations of socialists: leftists, center-socialists, and vaguely pro-business socialists, but it always comes out the same. Governments take power and hold it by promising more treats. When they can't deliver, they are dismissed as "corrupt" and another one comes in making the same promises as the last.
This is at least one reason the traditional parties collapsed when they were faced with Chavez. They could offer no philosophical argument to him, because essentially, on a philosophical level, they agreed with him. So faced with a charismatic but genuine autocrat, they folded.
There is nothing like a Republican or Libertarian, or classic-liberal conservative party. So as they drive their countries into the ground, their solutions become increasingly desperate and radicalized. But unless you can turn the political culture around, there is no solution.
The most important work will be to establish a genuine classic-liberal consciousness in the political culture, and genuinely conservative parties to argue the case. Without this, all the spooks and all the soldiering will be fruitless.
Perhaps Chavez will be the forcing factor to coalesce the opposition. They must combine their efforts in order to be a majority force. They can't be ragtag groups, they must find a common voice and goal. If they wait too long it will be too late. Castro is already drooling over his victory.
Bump!
Fedecamaras and union leaders said they would meet in the next few days to determine how to protest the arrest. They did not rule out calling another general strike, which could plunge the country further into economic and political chaos.
In Washington, State Department officials expressed concern over the arrest. The Bush administration has been sharply criticized for ignoring the ongoing conflict. "We fear the act could undermine the dialogue process" in Venezuela, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "This increases our concerns about human rights in Venezuela."
The arrest comes on the heels of an incident in which four opposition protesters, a woman and three soldiers, were killed over the weekend, their bodies showing marks of torture. Police have said they do not believe that the slayings have a political motive, but the investigation continues.
Together, however, the incidents will give the opposition new ammunition to portray Chavez as a megalomaniac bent on imposing a dictatorship on Venezuela, analysts said. Larry Birns, director of the liberal think tank Council on Hemispheric Affairs, said Chavez's actions showed "ominous imprudence." "It was a grave political mistake for Chavez to implement a policy of revenge," Birns said. "That's the last thing that Venezuela needs right now."***
These analysts are trying to have it both ways. I opt toward the megalomaniac dictatorship oppinion.
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