Posted on 04/20/2002 10:42:58 AM PDT by Dallas
CARACAS, Venezuela, April 20 (Reuters) - Venezuela's air force chief, appointed this week after a failed military coup, was killed with nine colleagues when their helicopter crashed in bad weather, in a fresh blow to the armed forces.
Armed forces chief Gen. Lucas Rincon said on Saturday the crash was caused by bad weather, not foul play. But it could fuel conspiracy theories as the military is deeply divided after the coup against President Hugo Chavez.
Gen. Luis Acevedo was flying back to Caracas late on Friday after attending a ceremony at Venezuela's naval academy when the Super Puma helicopter came down in heavily forested mountains just north of the capital.
Three other generals and three lieutenants were among the 10 victims of the crash, which is being investigated.
"I don't have enough elements to make a judgment, but, until now, we are handling it as bad weather," Rincon said. "The helicopter had no mechanical faults at any time."
Rincon was in another helicopter caught in the same poor weather and had to make an emergency landing. No one was killed or injured on that flight, and a third helicopter carrying the head of the National Guard also landed safely.
A group of senior military officers toppled Chavez early on April 12, hours after 17 people were killed when security forces and armed civilians opened fire on a massive protest march against his populist rule of the oil-rich nation.
Chavez bounced back to power two days later as loyalist officers rebelled and civilian supporters took to the streets. Dozens of people were killed in the protests and in looting over the tumultuous four days.
LOYALISTS PROMOTED
Chavez, who himself led a failed coup in 1992, reshuffled his armed forces this week, promoting loyalists like Acevedo while prosecuting others who took part in the military rebellion against him.
Coup leaders insist they were forced to act because Chavez wanted to use them in a violent crackdown against mainly middle-class protesters.
Chavez, a feisty 47-year-old former paratrooper, says the coup was planned months ago and was backed by business leaders as well as the country's private media bosses.
"This was a mega coup which in the end turned out to be a mega flop," Chavez said in an interview broadcast on state television on Friday.
Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel insists the military is now united, saying that only "maybe 30 or 40" officers out of a 70,000-strong military took part in the coup.
But analysts say Chavez' position remains fragile with the armed forces still divided and opposition leaders calling for his resignation or new elections.
Chavez won power in a landslide election victory in 1998 but has upset many Venezuelans by clashing repeatedly with the media, reasserting state control over the strategic oil industry and pushing through "revolutionary" land reform.
He has also clashed with the United States, angering the administration of President George W. Bush by developing a close alliance with Cuban President Fidel Castro and boosting Venezuela's ties to Iraq and Iran.
Washington appeared slow to condemn the coup, and Bush said this week Chavez needed to show he had learned his lesson by allowing greater democracy in the country.
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