Posted on 02/19/2003 12:13:34 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela -- The bodies of three soldiers who had called for "civic disobedience" against President Hugo Chavez's government have been found with their hands tied and faces wrapped with tape, forensic police said Tuesday.
No arrests had been made, and authorities were trying to determine a motive behind the killings of the three soldiers: Erwin Arguello, Angel Salas and Felix Pinto.
The bodies were found in Guarenas, 18 miles from Caracas, said Cesar Hernandez, chief of the forensic police's homicide division. Two of the bodies were found with multiple bullet wounds, Hernandez said, refusing to explain further. He said autopsies on the three bodies were pending.
Hernandez said investigators have information linking the three soldiers to a group of over 100 dissident officers who seized a Caracas plaza Oct. 23 and declared it "liberated territory."
"We know they visited the plaza. We also know they were missing since Thursday. We presume they were slain the same day in different locations," said Hernandez.
Dissident officers supported a nationwide strike called Dec. 2 to demand either Chavez's resignation or early elections. But its leaders -- business groups, labor unions, and leftist and conservative politicians -- agreed to end the protest Feb. 3 in all areas but the crucial oil industry.
Some of the dissident officers participated in a mid-April coup last year that briefly ousted Chavez.
Loyalists in the military returned Chavez to power two days after the uprising.
Chavez, a former paratrooper, accuses dissidents of attempting to provoke widespread lawlessness in an effort to spur another rebellion against his government.
More than 300 dissident officers were discharged, suspended from their posts or transferred to rural garrisons after the April coup.
Chavez was first elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000. He promised to wipe out the corruption of previous governments and redistribute the country's vast oil wealth to the poor majority.
His critics charge he has mismanaged the economy, tried to grab authoritarian powers and split the country along class lines with his fiery rhetoric.
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.
Raul Yepez, deputy director of the Caracas police homicide division, said the four victims had been fired upon with shotguns. It appeared that all of them went missing last week.
"We are conducting the investigation to try to answer these questions," he said.
Despite occasional violence in Venezuela's political standoff, there have been no confirmed selective killings of Chavez's allies or enemies. Still, street clashes have claimed at least seven lives and left scores injured since December.
The Venezuelan leader says his self-styled "revolution" for the poor is a peaceful one. His opponents, however, blame his aggressive class-warfare rhetoric for inspiring his supporters to take up arms.
Police said the victims were army soldier Darwin Arguello, marine infantry corporal Angel Salas and air force soldier Felix Pinto.
FORENSICS REPORT
A forensics report seen by Reuters indicated that a least of two of soldiers had been dead for about 72 hours. Their bodies were abandoned on the side of a multi-lane highway heading out of Caracas.
Yepez said at least one other victim was found on a farm on the outskirts of the capital.
The civilian victim, Zaida Perozo, had been wounded during a Dec. 6 shooting at Plaza Altamira, where she was protesting, said Carlos Bastidas, a lawyer for the dissident military officers.
At least one gunmen left three people dead and more than 20 injured in that attack which opposition leaders blamed on the government. Pinto was a material witness to the incident and had been considering testifying against the alleged shooter, Joao de Gouveia, said Bastides.
"It's very easy to put forward ideas or personal judgments ... but there is an element between this case and the case of Joao de Gouveia: that is one of the victims and a witness to Dec. 6 have died," Bastidas said.
Chavez is struggling to consolidate his power after surviving a coup last year. He has rebuffed calls by his opponents for early elections to cut short his term in office, which is set to end in 2007. [End]
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The civilian victim, Zaida Perozo, had been wounded during a Dec. 6 shooting at Plaza Altamira, where she was protesting, said Carlos Bastidas, a lawyer for the dissident military officers.
December 7, 2002 Opposition protests for referendum on Chavez drives Venezuela deeper into crisis*** CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's opposition stepped up protests against President Hugo Chavez's government Saturday to demand his resignation after three people were killed and 28 others wounded at an opposition rally.
The opposition declared Saturday a national day of mourning as hundreds of people in black clothing gathered at Plaza Francia. More confusion reigned as protesters wrested handguns from two people in the crowd they called "infiltrators."
Opposition leaders blamed Chavez supporters for the fatal shootings during a protest Friday night at an eastern Caracas plaza, which threatened to ignite more violence in a 6-day-old general strike to unseat Chavez. Hundreds of people were listening to a speech Friday night at the Plaza Francia, the opposition's main rallying point, when several bursts of gunfire were heard.
People dived to the ground and huddled together to protect themselves. Bloodied people were hustled into ambulances and bystanders tried in vain to revive the dead.
"They came out of nowhere and started shooting like crazy," said Gabriela Barreto, 19, who suffered a gunshot wound to her abdomen.
Some opposition leaders were quick to blame the president for the attack. Chavez said he was appalled by the accusations.
Pedro Aristimuno, head of Caracas' health department, said the dead included a 17-year-old girl, a 70-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man. Leopoldo Lopez, mayor of the Caracas district where the plaza is located, said 28 people suffered bullet wounds.
Seven suspects were detained, including one Lopez said confessed to shooting at the crowd. It was unclear what role the other detainees - who included British citizen Frank Ignacio Pieret - were accused of playing. But Lopez said so many injuries "could not have been caused by just one person."
Police confiscated a handgun from taxi driver Joao De Goveia, 39, a Portuguese citizen who has lived in Venezuela for more than 20 years, Lopez said. He said Goveia admitted firing about 10 shots into the crowd.
A bloodied Goveia, shown on television as police shoved him into a sport utility vehicle, told journalists he had confessed. In a brief, confused statement, he said he targeted journalists allied with the opposition.
Goveia was taken to the Justice Ministry on Saturday for questioning.***
Yes, the targeting of journalists, students, leaders and witnesses to Chavista gang shootings is all being done to weaken and scare the opposition. With Chavez stalling and blocking any vote on his rule, I don't see a good end to this.
The official inquiry would cover the killing of at least a dozen people by gunmen during a huge anti-Chavez protest march in Caracas April 11. These deaths triggered the short-lived coup against the former paratrooper and his three-year-old tenure in the world's No. 4 oil exporter. The probe would also investigate the deaths of several dozen others in big street protests by his supporters and widespread looting which accompanied his tumultuous return to power with the help of loyal troops early on April 14.
…………..Critics of the president, including senior military officers who staged the 48-hour coup against him, say pro-Chavez gunmen firing mostly from rooftops ambushed the April 11 protest march by tens of thousands of Venezuelans who were clamoring for the resignation of the populist leader. Civil Defense officials said 17 people were killed by gunshots and more than 100 injured. In his letter, Chavez said, "Twelve compatriots were massacred in the middle of violent clashes, which still appear very confused." To back their accusations, opponents of the government point to television footage showing pro-Chavez militants firing pistols at the marchers from a bridge.***
That kind of fear is new, said Liliana Ortega, a leading human rights investigator. Her agency was formed after food riots of 1989, in which hundreds of people were killed. The exact number and identities of the dead have never been confirmed. No one was ever convicted for the killings. Still, Ms. Ortega said, in the days following those riots relatives of the dead quickly began forming support groups and investigative committees. They held news conferences and marches. Since April 11, she said, her office has received threats by telephone and the Internet. Only a handful of the relatives of the dead have filed complaints. "People are afraid," Ms. Ortega said. "That is clear."***
Venezuelans who saw the tape, replayed repeatedly on television, were outraged, blaming the gunmen and the government for shooting at a sea of unarmed antigovernment protesters.
But more than two weeks after 17 people died and another 100 were wounded in the incident, the worst case of political violence in Venezuela in a decade, new evidence has emerged that seems to show that the men on the bridge were exchanging gunfire with other armed men.
The evidence suggests that multiple gunmen - uniformed and civilian, pro- and anti-Chavez - fired weapons in the midst of the largest antigovernment demonstration in Mr. Chavez's turbulent three years in office.
The violence led to Mr. Chávez's temporary downfall when military officers, blaming the government for the deaths, publicly withdrew their support for the president.
It is unclear who actually aimed and fired into the crowds on the afternoon of April 11. But interviews with investigators, police officers and witnesses suggest that a gunfight took place across three blocks of Avenida Baralt, south of the Carmelitas Bridge, which was teeming with unarmed protesters.
At the same time, unidentified gunmen with rifles fired down from at least three tall buildings, hitting most victims in the head and upper body.
Only three people have been arrested in connection with the violence, civilian supporters of President Chávez who were captured on videotape firing from the bridge.***
May 1, 2002 Chavez's citizens group, "political army," is fueling tensions*** CARACAS - Officially, Bolivarian Circles are groups of poor Venezuelans organized by populist President Hugo Chávez to carry out such neighborhood activities as cleaning up garbage and fixing potholes.
But Chávez's opponents allege that they are armed gangs of pro-Chávez radicals and thugs who terrorize them, attack their street marches, shoot up their offices and cruise Caracas streets in menacing motorcycle packs.
Perhaps more than any other action, the creation of the Bolivarian Circles has heightened the impression -- consistently denied by Chávez -- that he is building his own political army. As a result, the groups have become a critical point of confrontation between the president and his opponents.
Opponents now say they've had enough of the Bolivarian Circles and are demanding that the president disarm and disband them as the first step toward the reconciliation that he promised following the April 11 coup attempt. The debate over the fate of these groups might go a long way toward resolving -- or deepening -- the political crisis engulfing Chávez.***
"It's a tragedy for Venezuela" - Oil strike may be over, but industry faces high hurdles *** Getting pumps and refineries going again is not as simple as throwing a switch. The oil behemoth's skeletal staff has to tussle with complex engineering tasks, from gauging oil flow in dormant pipes to reconfiguring computer systems to replacing a catalytic cracker module on a stalled refinery. Half of Venezuela's petroleum comes from particularly viscous oil deposits, and many wells became filled with sand after the oil pressure was cut. "Some fields you should never shut down, and they were shut down," says Ramon Espinasa, a consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington and a former PDVSA economist. "A large number [of wells] will have to be redrilled." Mr. Goldstein says that some wells will have to be abandoned altogether. He estimates that 400,000 barrels per day have been permanently lost.
A crowded slate of technical challenges falls to a PDVSA workforce that is practically headless, as most of the firings occurred in the ranks of senior managers, scientists, and economists. PDVSA is severely short-staffed, and workers who have been brought out of retirement are scrambling to learn new computer systems. Reaching prestrike production levels will call for further exploration, and that requires cash - yet another problem. PDVSA announced it will tighten its belt by $2.7 billion this year, nearly one-third of its budget. "To run this corporation they need capital and labor, and they have neither," says Mr. Espinasa.***
Now, Brazilians, take heed... coming soon to a theater near you...
Hugo Chavez and 9/11, self-proclaimed leader if the new anti-Imperialist movement (pro-Commie), Venezuela's oil billions fund terrorism and protests.
Related: March in protest against Chavez, get 5-10 years in jail
Abuse of Power - 10-year Prison Terms For Protest Marchers in Venezuela
[Full Text] New law makes it a crime to march in protest against Chavez, or even write about it. Prison terms range from 5 to 10 years per protester.
Desperate and with only one in ten Venezuelans supporting it, the Chavez regime has unleashed a new "Ley de Seguridad de la Nacion" on the democratic opposition in Venezuela. This "National Security Law" basically makes it a crime to be against Chavez: With dissidents being sent to prison camps for a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 10 years. Among the "crimes" punishable by harsh sentences of five-to-ten can be found such simple acts as as participating in a protest march near a security zone, and inviting others to such protest marches (the law's article 56).
Security zones can be any area that the Chavez regime says. Currently, there are 8 such security zones in Caracas alone, and 107 in the country. They cover airports, military bases, government buildings, even state-owned radio and TV stations. And if a Venezuelan ever wanted to march on Miraflores, the presidential palace and also designated a "security zone", he better be a Chavez-supporter. Otherwise he is facing up to 10 years in jail.
Journalist covering protests would be deemed "instigators" and would also face stiff prison terms, a Chavez insider reported. This is a way to effectively silence critical opposition press coverage while still in theory allowing freedom of expression in Venezuela.
The same law, in its article 32, also allows the government to militarize companies, be it state-owned or private. In the case of private companies, such a militarization means that the basic human rights of the owners and the workers no longer apply. Owners are subject to what the local military boss says. And workers can not strike. If they are absent from the workplace, they will be termed military deserters and can be punished in a military tribunal for treason.
The democratic future of Venezuela and the hemisphere has moved to a whole new level. With a new oil-dictatorship right in Caribbean, the stability of the Americas is at stake now. And time is running out. [End}
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This is how Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe eventually silenced his opposition. It is illegal to talk against him, report on his activities, or assemble (more than one person is considered an assembly).
Arab advisers now are reinforcing a sizable contingent of Cubans in efforts to reorganize Venezuela's security services, assimilate its industries based on totalitarian models and repress a popular opposition movement. "What happens in Venezuela may affect how you fight a war in Iraq," Gen. James Hill of U.S. Southern Command is reported recently to have told his colleague at U.S. Central Command, Gen. Tommy Franks.
"Chavez is planning to coordinate an anti-American strategy with terrorist states," says Venezuela's former ambassador to Libya, Julio Cesar Pineda, who reveals correspondence between the Venezuelan president and Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi about the need to "solidify" ties between liberation movements in the Middle East and Latin America and use oil as an economic weapon.
Exhorting his countrymen to return to their "Arab roots," Chavez has paid state visits to Libya, Iraq and Iran and signed a series of mutual-cooperation treaties with the rogue governments whose operatives now are flooding into Venezuela. There they can blend into an ethnic Arab community estimated at half-a-million.
Last Jan. 10, 18 Libyan technicians flying in from Tripoli via Frankfurt, Germany, were received at the Caracas airport by Ali Ahmed, head of Libya's "Commission" in Venezuela. He was accompanied by the parliamentary whip of the ruling Venezuelan Revolutionary Movement (MVR), Cilia Flores. Nicolas Maduro and Juan Baruto, two other bosses of the MVR party militias (the Circulos Bolivarianos) who had paid an extended visit to Tripoli in 2000, also were on hand to smooth the way for the Libyans coming off Lufthansa Flight 534.
The Libyan agents were identified as: Alsudik Alghariy, Elmabruk Najjar, Koaled Adun, Zeguera Adel, Sherif Nagib, Abubaker Benelfgh, Nabiel Bentahir, Abdulfat Enbia, Waldi Majrab, Amhamed Elkum, Abdulgha Nashnush, Mohamed Romia, Abdurao Shwich, Abdulnass Elghanud, Ezzedin Barhmi, Abdulssa Seleni, Hassan Gwile and Mhemmed Besha.
The high level of security provided for the Libyans' arrival was intended to avoid the havoc of previous days when the entry of Iraqi and Iranian groups touched off a riot. As word of the landing of 20 Iranians had spread through Simón Bolívar International Airport on Jan. 8, crowds of infuriated travelers banged counters and cigarette urns and chanted "Get out! Get out!" to protest what many Venezuelans perceive as foreign interference in their country's affairs.
…………. Meanwhile, Iraqi VIPs, moving under the protection of Chavez's secret police -- the Department of Intelligence Security and Prevention (DISIP) -- came to the attention of Venezuela's regular military when government agents tried to use air-force planes to fly five of Saddam Hussein's agents into the interior of the country. Military pilots requested special clearances before allowing the Iraqis onto the C-130s.
Military sources also report that the recently arrived group of Libyans is billeted at the Macuto Sheraton Hotel in La Guaira, which they share with Cuban commandos who have been conducting strike-breaking operations around the nation's oil ports. Local units of the National Guard, the branch of the Venezuelan armed forces responsible for internal security, were reported to be refusing government orders to repress strikers.
According to Capt. Jose Ballabes of the merchant-marine union, the Cubans improvised floating concentration camps on board oil tankers, threatening officers and crews to get them to move the paralyzed vessels. When the Venezuelans still resisted, "such methods as sleep deprivation, often used against political dissidents in Cuba, are being systematically employed against our people," says Ballabes.
Sources in Venezuela's merchant navy name two of the Cuban agents on the tankers as Arturo Escobar and Carlos Valdez, who were presented as "presidential advisers" operating with DISIP. Venezuela's internal-security organization now is reported to be controlled by a command cell of undercover officers from Fidel Castro's military-intelligence service. Venezuelan sources say the Cuban operatives also run a computerized war room inside Chavez's presidential palace, Miraflores. It is in this war room that the repressive policies now afflicting the country have been planned, according to serving officers in the Venezuelan army, navy and national guard consulted by Insight.
The Libyans, like the Cubans, are specialists in military intelligence and security, but are described as computer specialists brought in to operate and reprogram crashed systems at the oil refineries, according to industry sources.
"The West must expect deepening relations between Venezuela and Islamic states," says professor Elie Habalian, a specialist in petroleum economics and a consultant to PDVSA President Ali Rodriguez Araque, who is identified by Venezuelan military sources as a one-time communist guerrilla chief. Aided by Cuban intelligence and Islamic workers, the government has managed to get oil production back up to 34 percent, a level sufficient to supply basic domestic needs. "It's a war between two models," continues Habalian, "one seeking total control over oil policy and the liberal international policy represented by PDVSA's previous management" effectively eliminated by the government, which has ordered the mass dismissal of 7,000 oil-company employees.
Interfacing of Venezuela's oil industry with the radical state systems also facilitates plans for a possible oil embargo against the United States in the event the military assault on Iraq is prolonged. While international oil experts consider such a scenario unlikely due to Venezuela's desperate need for export earnings, Venezuelan opposition leaders fear that Chavez could take advantage of a conflagration in the gulf to consolidate his dictatorship with the support of Cuban and Arab agents already in place.
"Chavez has violated the constitution on 34 counts and is moving to nationalize banking," says a leading member of Venezuela's business community. "He has packed the high courts with his judges, neutralized the army and turned the national assembly into a rubber-stamp parliament. All that's left to do is shut down the independent media and decapitate the opposition." According to this source, Chavez is most likely to move when world attention is fixed on Iraq.
……….. Undercover police officers report that the group has ties to a Hezbollah financial network operating from the Caribbean island of Margarita under Mohammed al Din, an important Chavez backer and a close friend of hard-line MVR deputy Adel el Zabayar Samara, a key link between Islam and Latin America's radical left.
The Caracas cell is involved in recruiting Venezuelan Arabs for terrorist indoctrination and military training at isolated camps in the country's interior and on islands off the coast, according to intelligence officers who claim that members of al-Qaeda are hiding out in Margarita. They say these members include Diab Fattah, who was deported from the United States for his possible connections with the Sept. 11 hijackers. Four Venezuelan officers investigating terrorist activities on the resort island were killed in 2001 when Chavez moved to dissolve DISIP Section 11, which had targeted radical Arabs. ***
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