Venezuela's Chavez Fears Possible Air Attack *** CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, ousted briefly during a coup in April, said on Friday his government had installed anti-aircraft batteries in Caracas in case an air attack was launched against him. "It's a theory that we have to consider ... that they could be preparing, from somewhere in the Caribbean, some bold aerial action against Miraflores Palace," Chavez told reporters, without indicating who might be planning such as attack.
The populist president said his government had installed the air defenses on the basis of information obtained from suspects in the April 11-14 uprising that left more than 60 people dead. Chavez, a former paratrooper who himself led a botched coup in 1992 before turning to the ballot box, declined to provide further details. Miraflores is located in central Caracas near other key government buildings. ***
Unusual suspects: Police may be behind executions in Venezuela ***And it's not just police officers killing alleged career criminals. Civilians lynched 63 supposed criminals during PROVEA's 2000 reporting period compared to 22 in the 2001 period, the human rights group reported. Police executions of suspected career criminals is not a new phenomenon in Venezuela, where ill-trained and low-paid police have long faced hardened criminals and a judicial system were the accused can easily buy judges. ''The police feel impotent before this, so they become judge and executioner,'' said Ildefonso Urdaneta, head of the federal police, the Scientific Penal and Criminal Investigations Bureau (SPCIB).***