It had no influence on Hugo Chavez or his supporters.
A secret police officer stands outside the station where opposition leader Carlos Fernandez is under arrest in Caracas, February 20, 2003. State security police captured the business chief who led a strike against President Hugo Chavez after a judge ordered him and a union boss detained for rebellion. REUTERS/Chico Sanchez
Feb 21, 2003 - Arrest prompts fears of Chávez crackdown - By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas [Full Text]
Venezuela's government stepped up what appeared to be a retaliatory crackdown on opponents of President Hugo Chávez on Thursday with the arrest of the business leader who led a two-month strike aimed at forcing the president's resignation.
Carlos Fernández, head of the Fedecamaras business federation, was captured by a group of heavily armed men outside a restaurant, witnesses said, and taken to the headquarters of the Disip political police in Caracas.
A judge said a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Mr Fernández on charges of "treason" and "civil rebellion". A similar warrant was also issued for Carlos Ortega, leader of the main labour union, which backed the strike in December and January.
Opposition leaders condemned the detention as evidence that Mr Chávez was drifting towards "dictatorship" and embarking on a "campaign of intimidation". Government legislators said the arrest followed correct legal procedures.
Mr Chávez, emboldened by his survival after the stoppage, has promised to jail the strike's organisers for "sabotaging" the economy and has warned that exchange controls will be used to deprive opposition-aligned businesses of foreign currency.
The strike at Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which is producing only about half of the 3m barrels a day from before the strike, has left what was the world's fifth-largest oil-exporting economy facing a contraction of at least 15 per cent this year.
Rafael Alfonzo, an opposition negotiator in talks intended to defuse Venezuela's political deadlock, said Mr Fernández's arrest undermined an anti-violence pact signed only two days ago with the government.
The agreement was the first breakthrough in three months of negotiations backed by the Organisation of American States aimed at finding an electoral solution to the tensions between Mr Chávez and opposition groups.
Mr Fernández's arrest comes a day after Washington-based Human Rights Watch urged the Venezuelan government to investigate the murder of four opposition supporters this week.
The bodies of three junior military staff and a civilian woman who had joined dissident officers pressing for Mr Chávez's resignation were found dumped on a roadside outside Caracas.
"The circumstances strongly suggest that these were political killings," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. [End]
JIMMY CARTER/UN NO-VIOLENCE PACT [Full Text] Humberto Márquez,Inter Press Service
CARACAS, Feb 18 (IPS) - The government and the opposition in Venezuela signed a joint declaration Tuesday against political violence, the first tangible achievement since César Gaviria, secretary-general of the Organization of American States, began as mediator more than three months ago in negotiations for a way out of the country's political crisis.
In the eight-point 'Declaration against violence and in favor of peace and democracy,' the two sides announce their commitment to dismantle the tensions that have pervaded the political sphere in Venezuela over the last few years, and reiterate their commitment to the Constitution and democratic law.
In the statement, representatives of the Hugo Chávez administration and of the opposition reject verbal "intemperance," mutual recriminations, hurtful language and "rhetoric that in any way encourages confrontation."
The two sides propose instead "a language of mutual respect, tolerance, consideration of others' ideas, and the supreme appreciation of human life and dignity."
The tripartite group, comprising the OAS, the U.S.-based Carter Center, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is facilitating the dialogue, had repeatedly urged the two sides to "lower their tone" and "moderate the language" of their political discourse.
Similar efforts were made by the so-called "Group of Friends," countries backing the OAS effort in Venezuela. The group was established in January by the foreign ministries of Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States.
The second point of Tuesday's joint declaration states that violence in any form, regardless of who perpetrates it, is "absolutely unjustifiable."
The two sides "summon all authorities and competent administrative and juridical bodies to act to investigate and penalize the loss of human lives."
In the last year, the death toll resulting from political violence in Venezuela has reached more than 80, with hundreds of people injured. During the social chaos associated with the failed coup d'état in April 2002, 61 people died, according to the non-governmental Venezuelan Human Rights Education-Action Program.
Street demonstrations or political rallies in Caracas, whether supporting the Chávez government or the opposition, another 10 people have died. In rural Venezuela, several peasant leaders have been assassinated.
Tuesday's declaration rejects all expressions of violence, intolerance or vengeance.
Six government delegates and six delegates from the opposition Democratic Coordinator, the document's signatories, exhorted the Venezuelan people to cease any "direct or indirect attitude of aggression, threat, harassment or violence," and urged churches, trade unions and all social organizations to help in the effort.
During the past year, opposition protesters and pro-Chávez demonstrators have clashed in the streets of Caracas, and military officials are staying away from certain public places, such as restaurants in middle-class neighborhoods, because they are subjected to insults or surrounded by crowds of residents banging pots and pans.
The point in the declaration that required most effort to achieve consensus is about the communications media. The text calls on journalistic enterprises to "promote peace, tolerance and peaceful coexistence" in their programming and to comply with and exercise their constitutional and legal rights and duties.
The privately owned media championed the cause of the opposition during the two-month anti-Chávez strike that ended earlier this month. Television stations, for example, replaced normal advertising for political propaganda against the government.
And the government followed suit, using state-run television and radio stations to disseminate its messages.
The declaration's signatories are now obligated "to maintain and improve the work" of the negotiations panel, which "with this declaration approaches the possibility of an electoral way out" of the crisis, opposition leader Humberto Calderón told IPS.
The delegates also agree to take up related issues, such as setting up a Truth Commission to clear up the events surrounding the April 2002 coup and deaths, and disarming the civilian population--demanded by the opposition, which claims that many government supporters are carrying weapons illegally.
"The dialogue had started at the end, and with the Tuesday declaration we have returned to the beginning, and the road has been cleared so we can discuss anything," commented Vice-President José Vicente Rangel.
He was referring to the opposition's insistence on an "electoral" way out of the political crisis--such as a referendum on Chávez's mandate--while the word order in the declaration is "peaceful, democratic, constitutional and electoral."
Andrés Cova, representing the anti-Chávez trade unions in the negotiations, says he is confident that "with this accord we can find an electoral solution in the middle term."
The opposition is seeking a constitutional amendment to declare an end to Chávez's presidential term, which lasts until 2006, and to convene new elections this year.
After the six delegates from each side signed the joint declaration, representatives from the OAS, the Carter Center and UNDP added their signatures.[End]
______________________________________________________________________
The media, already under fire (as in bullets) will be shut down next. Hugo Chavez - Venezuela
______________________________________________________________________
Chavez arresting opposition - allies say more arrests pending - Chavez: "I went to bed smiling"*** CARACAS, Venezuela - Thousands of government opponents staged a street rally on Thursday to protest the arrest of opposition leader Carlos Fernandez, who faces charges of treason and instigating violence. Chanting "Free Fernandez!" and "This is a dictatorship!" while waving red, yellow and blue Venezuelan flags, angry demonstrators marched round an air force base in eastern Caracas. Songs calling for peace boomed from loudspeakers while motorists honked horns.
President Hugo Chavez, speaking at the presidential palace, said he gave secret police the green light to detain Fernandez. "One of the coup plotters was arrested last night. It was about time, and see how the others are running to hide," Chavez triumphed. "I went to bed with a smile." Chavez said judges shouldn't "be afraid to issue arrest warrants against coup-plotters." Government opponents at the rally accused the former paratroop commander of trying to establish a Cuban-style dictatorship in this South American nation of 24 million.
"This is an escalation of violence by the government, which has arrived at the extreme of repression," said Carlos Feijoo, 88, a retired oil worker at the demonstration. "He wants to copy Fidel (Castro)." Government allies warned that more than 100 opposition leaders - ranging from labor bosses to news media executives - who supported a two-month strike to oust Chavez could also be arrested.***