Posted on 11/20/2004 12:04:33 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, VENEZUELA - President Hugo Chavez's spokesman on Friday accused "terrorists" training in Florida of being behind the assassination of a top prosecutor who intended to try backers of Venezuela's 2002 coup.
Danilo Anderson was killed by two explosions that tore through his SUV as he was driving in the capital just before midnight Thursday. The killing shook this oil-rich South American nation and raised the specter of further violence.
As authorities called for calm, hundreds of mourners, some weeping and others angrily shouting "Justice!", watched while a coffin bearing his body was brought into the attorney general's office building in Caracas.
Information Minister Andrés Izarra said the assassination of Anderson — known among Venezuelans as the "super prosecutor" — was clearly aimed at derailing his investigations and prosecutions of those who supported the coup, in which 19 people were killed and almost 300 wounded.
Izarra blamed Venezuelan exiles in Florida, echoing Chavez's earlier accusations that Cuban and Venezuelan "terrorists" were training in Florida to execute him and were using the media to call for his removal.
"We want the government of the United States to explain how it is that these terrorist groups that act with total freedom in Florida ... make these statements through the media under the government's nose," Izarra said.
The U.S. Embassy did not immediately return calls seeking comment. While the United States remains Venezuela's main buyer of oil, relations between the Chavez and Bush administrations have been testy.
Chavez has blasted the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, while Washington is unhappy with Chavez's close links with Cuba's Fidel Castro and attempts to centralize power.
The killing of the 38-year-old prosecutor heightened tensions in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter just as a political crisis that gripped the country for the past 2 1/2 years was easing.
Opponents of Chavez, a fiery leftist and former army paratroop commander, failed to oust him in the two-day coup in April 2002, in a two-month national strike later that year and in a national referendum last August.
The political opposition has been largely silent since pro-Chavez candidates swept all but two of 23 governorships in elections Oct. 31.
But the assassination underscored that the political situation remains unstable with the potential for further violence.
Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacón said C-4, a military-grade plastic explosive, was apparently used, set off by remote control.
Anderson was alone in the car, and his body was so badly burned and mutilated that it was hours before authorities could conclusively identify him.
Anderson had been involved in several cases against opponents of Chávez, who was elected on his promises to help Venezuela's majority poor.
At the time of his death, Anderson was preparing a case against nearly 400 people who signed a declaration supporting interim President Pedro Carmona during the coup.
ping
I agree.
Will latin america never learn!!
I'm sure Chavez the Caracas Thug took Danilo out for political purposes. The guy was young, kept to himself, his burnt corpose would make a perfect political icon for a few days. A martyr to the cause of chavismo! Not only that, to carry on 'Danilo's memory' future prosecutions of political opponents will probably go on with a replenished fury. And anyway, Danilo was often criticized by chavistas in Venezuela for not getting enough convictions. So, that too, might have been a reason they decided to sacrifice the guy. If I were a mid-level Chavez minister, I'd be a bit worried about who they'll take out next. There's no question in my mind that Chavez's minions did it.
Bump!
The Thug is up to no good. As if he can't be more gorged in power, having crushed his opposition through all fair and foul means, now he wants even more power. His appetite for power over others is insatiable.
Dittos!
several years ago the opposition of chavez had him imprisoned. i don't understand why they released him.
Latest news on El Universal (en espanol) is that The Thug has arrested the mayor of Caracas' security chief who was trying to flee to Miami through the anti-Chavez western state of Zulia. I googled the mayor, Alfredo Pena, to see what he was like, it turns out the chavistas have been trying to pin something on him for years and years. They hate him especially because he used to be a chavista and he turned against them when he realized they were communists in mere liberals' clothing. They have a special little cold spot in their hearts for people like that. Furthermore, they have been after him because he controls the anti-chavez Caracas police forces, which they are trying to merge into the pro-chavez army. It will just be martial law after they get away with that. So they have been after him and his for a long time. Pena is safely in Miami now but the poor security guy is now being accused of the assassination. Even if he is guilty, which i am not so sure of, it would be understandable, given the wringer that chavez has put this group through. They have been relentless in their efforts to destroy these people.
He was released because soldiers loyal to him ran the facility.
It will be a ruthless anti-Chavez purge.
that explains that. thanks.
china's plan as a "hegemon" to use their word is to dominate asia, and then to surpass the united states around the world.
china is the likely culprit behind south and central american problems. china needs the natural resources of the area, but it stands to gain more from its future exports to the area.
as it makes economic gains, china will focus these countries' contempt on the united states.
I assume you all know that Chavez has spent the last few days swanning around Spain, proclaiming that now Spain is to be Venezuela's closest ally in dealing with the rest of LatAm. Of course, under Zapatero, it probably will be.
Thanks for the follow up information. It seemed to me right off the bat that this was assassination was a Chavez production.
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