Bomb Kills Venezuela Prosecutor, Gov't Swipes at US

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - A Venezuelan prosecutor probing a 2002 coup against President Hugo Chavez was killed by a car bomb that the government blamed Friday on radical opponents it said were training in the United States.

Senior officials said the attack that killed Danilo Anderson late Thursday was carried out by opposition "fascists and terrorists" and they accused the U.S. government of tolerating hard-line Chavez opponents on its territory.

"This was clearly a political assassination," Information Minister Andres Izarra said. "We believe the U.S. government must explain how these terrorist groups can be operating in Florida, U.S. territory."

The minister said the attack was aimed at halting prosecutions led by Anderson against several hundred opposition politicians, lawyers and ex-military officers accused of supporting Chavez's short-lived ouster in the 2002 coup.

The U.S. government condemned the bombing and dismissed any links to those involved in the Caracas attack.

A U.S. official, speaking anonymously, denied Washington would abet Chavez opponents living in the United States.

"The charge is ridiculous and more of a politically motivated conspiracy theory," he said.

Chavez often accuses Washington of blindly supporting opponents who claim to be defending Venezuela's democracy against dictatorship. He says some are U.S.-backed "coup-mongers" bent on toppling or killing him. U.S. officials have repeatedly rejected his charges.

That's what it sounds like to me. Already the mobs are gathering in Caracas, looking for a victim. Tropical Trotsky and his henchmen, on the other hand, are happy to use this to whip up antiamerican sentiment. The US ambassador and the opposition leaders have all condemned this but the chavistas are saying they did it. Cui bono? The answer is clear. If I were some chavista minister, I'd be really worried that Chavez would pick me next for his necessary sacrifices to whip up antiamericanism for a few days.

Car Bomb Kills Venezuelan Coup Prosecutor

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ, Associated Press Writer

Fri Nov 19,12:53 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela -

"A prosecutor pressing charges against backers of Venezuela's failed 2002 coup was killed by explosions that ripped through his SUV as he was driving through the capital, officials said Friday.

Witnesses said two explosions rocked Danilo Anderson's vehicle just before midnight Thursday as it drove through the western Caracas neighborhood of Chaguaramos. Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel and other top officials rushed to the scene.

Anderson was preparing a case on charges of civil rebellion against hundreds of Venezuelans who signed a document supporting Pedro Carmona when he was named interim leader during the coup that ousted President Hugo Chavez for two days. Chavez was returned to power amid a popular uprising denouncing the coup and a split among the South American armed forces over whether it should have been carried out.

City security official Alberto Carias identified the badly charred body as Anderson after visiting the morgue.

Carias called the prosecutor a "hero" and said his attack was "a provocation," urging supporters of Chavez not to respond with violence. "Violence doesn't solve anything."

Attorney General Isiais Rodriguez called the attack "a terrorist act."

Chavez canceled a visit to the weekend Ibero-American Summit in San Jose, Costa Rica, due to the attack, Justice Minister Jesse Chacon told the state news agency Venpress..." (End excerpt. Link follows)

Car Bomb Kills Venezuelan Coup Prosecutor

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