[Cincinatus' Wife]

Soldiers and woman who opposed Chavez found bound and shot in Venezuela town*** Three military dissidents and a female protester opposed to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have been killed execution-style after being kidnapped, bound and gagged, police said on Tuesday. Police refused to comment on the investigation, or to discuss possible motives or suspects.

All four victims frequented Plaza Altamira, the site of more than 120 days of protests against Chavez' government. The dead military men had also joined a call for popular resistance led by anti-Chavez Gen. Enrique Medina. A 14-year-old girl who apparently witnessed at least one of the killings was hospitalized after being shot, but is talking, police said.***

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Anti-Chavez student tortured by police, says head of Venezuela's central university [Full Text] CARACAS, Venezuela - Secret police tortured a university student who participated in a youth protest against President Hugo Chavez, the rector of the Central University of Venezuela alleged Thursday. A high-ranking official of the Interior Ministry, which oversees the federal secret police, denied the claim. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity.

University Rector Giuseppe Gianetto told Union Radio that 18-year-old Ricardo Sanchez, an international studies major, was kidnapped by agents as he left an opposition youth protest in Caracas on Wednesday. Sanchez was blindfolded, beaten and burned with an object before agents released him early Thursday in a Caracas slum, Gianetto said. Sanchez was under the protective custody of university attorneys who were filing a complaint with the attorney general's office.

"This kind of vile and cowardly torture hasn't been seen in this country for a long time," said Gianetto. "Not even youths can use their constitutional rights to go out and protest peacefully."

"There wasn't any detention of any student," the Interior Ministry official said in a telephone interview.[End]