Posted on 02/22/2003 3:09:47 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 20 - After a judge ordered the arrest of prominent foes of President Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan police seized a businessman early today who had led a recent two-month strike against him.
Shots rang out as protesters and private bodyguards faced off with the state security officers who seized the strike leader, Carlos Fernández, outside a Caracas steakhouse shortly after midnight and pushed him into a waiting car, officials and witnesses said.
Opposition leaders, who accuse Mr. Chávez of wielding power like a dictator, called on supporters to take to the streets as motorists blocked highways in the capital, honking horns and flashing headlights to protest the arrest.
"This is not just aggression against these two people," Manuel Cova, a union leader, said at a news conference. "It's aggression against Venezuelan liberty."
The arrest occurred after a judge ordered Mr. Fernández and the strike's other main leader, Carlos Ortega, the leader of Venezuela's largest labor union, detained for rebellion against the state, sabotage and other charges. Mr. Ortega told reporters he would go into hiding.
The order and arrest rattled the opposition, which was already reeling from the killings of three dissident soldiers and an anti-Chávez protester whose bodies were discovered this week. The police say the deaths probably involved a personal grudge, but grieving relatives blamed political persecution.
Mr. Chávez praised the arrest of Mr. Fernández, a prominent figure in the private sector, as belated justice for terrorists in what his opponents feared was the start of a political witch hunt.
"These people should have been jailed a long time ago," Mr. Chávez said, grinning widely as he recounted hearing about the arrest. "At one in the morning, I sent for the sweet cooked papaya from my mother, to savor it, because it's not about hate, but justice."
Mr. Chávez, who survived a coup in April, has taken a tough stance against opponents since strike leaders called off their nationwide shutdown in early February as it began to lose momentum. He has declared 2003 as the "year of the offensive."
The president, elected in 1998, has vowed to crack down on foes he says are trying to topple him by sabotaging Venezuela's oil industry, the fifth-largest in the world. Mr. Chávez has clamored for judges to jail strikers, whom he has called coup mongers.
The opposition strike briefly crippled oil exports and production as part of a campaign to push Mr. Chávez into resigning and accepting early elections.
But the Venezuelan leader, whose fiery speeches are often laced with threats and name-calling, has so far resisted calls for a vote. He accuses "rich elites" of trying to scuttle his leftist reforms to ease poverty.
As lawyers worked on freeing Mr. Fernández, police investigators scoured for clues on the quadruple killing of the three rebel soldiers and a female antigovernment protester.
About a dozen unidentified men kidnapped the four victims on Saturday night as they left a protest. The four were bound and gagged, and some were tortured before they were killed, the police said.
The case has fueled opposition fears that Mr. Chávez may be leading Venezuela toward armed struggle by encouraging supporters to silence dissent, more than 10 months after he narrowly survived the coup led by rebel officers.
Venezuelan national guard soldiers stand at the main entrance of the court where general strike leader Carlos Fernandez is expected to arrive in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Feb. 21, 2003. Thousands protested Fernandez's arrest across the country, and nine people were injured in clashes with police in the central city of Valencia Thursday. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)
***Chávez commented Thursday, ''At last a prosecutor and a judge issued orders to arrest people who should have been imprisoned a long time ago.'' A day earlier the president had condemned the fact that there are judges in Venezuela ''who sell their rulings for 3,000 to 30,000 dollars.'' ''I was informed (of the arrest warrant) at midnight and I told the police to obey the order. And I went to bed with a smile. Later I sent for a papaya tart that my mother made so I could taste it. I don't have a grudge against anyone, I only want justice to be done,'' Chávez said. ***Source
Gloating Chavez Defends Arrest of Strike Boss - "We are nobody's colony"***A squadron of plainclothes police on Friday hustled a grim-faced Carlos Fernandez into the attorney general's office, where he faces civil rebellion and treason charges for spearheading the two-month strike that battered the economy of the world's No. 5 oil exporter. His arrest late Wednesday at gunpoint drew fire from international organizations and the United States, which said it feared the move would undermine negotiations to end the bitter political feud over the president's rule. "We are nobody's colony," Chavez roared at a crowd of supporters in western Trujillo state. "We have our own institutions, our own constitution ... and we will not accept meddling in Venezuela's domestic affairs."***
Teresa Lorenzo wipes away a tear with a glove made of Venezuela's national colors at a gathering to pray for peace in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2003. Thousands of Venezuelans gathered on a Caracas highway to pray for peace in their bitterly divided nation.(AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)
Venezuala is emphatically of more significance as a center of terrorists that can threaten us, being here in our own hemisphere.
Behind the curtain in all this is China, I suspect.
More evidence that a new Cold War seige, with proxy wars, has begun all over again.
They're too busy watching 'Joe Millionaire' and 'American Idol' to be bothered. The media scarcely devotes any time to following this insanity, especially when it comes from the left, as practically 99.99% does, so the public hardly knows much at all, assuming they particularly care. Maybe when the barbarians are finally at their front gate they will care, but by then, it will be too late.
Look at how they love the sainted (spit) Allende. People were more free under Pinochet then they were under (spit) Allende but you would never believe it to hear the Left talk.
I need a glass of water
Brazilian Plotter Buys Time for Chavez; Has Links to Terrorists and to Saddam
All of us are active military who used to serve under Hugo Chavez, and have seen his regime from the inside. We know of his government's corruption, human rights abuses, violations of the constitution, and what he has planned for Venezuela. For that reason, we all concluded that we could no longer follow orders from Hugo Chavez, and we are now making use of our constitutional right to no longer recognize his authority.
In the Plaza Altamira, we are promoting democracy with the inhabitants of Caracas in a non-violent way, first of all as citizens and subsequently as soldiers. We left our weapons behind in our garrisons when we walked out, and came here unarmed. We are not planning a coup, but merely asking for the restoration of democracy and constitutional rule in Venezuela.
List of Venezuelan military resistersAir Force Brigadier General
Pedro Antonio Pereira Olivares
Chavez is not just a treat to his own people, but to the stability of the entire region. He openly finances terrorism in other countries, and has expressed his hatred for the democratic Western way of life. Nat'l Grd. Brigadier General
Marcos Ferreira Torres
As the president of the ONI-DEX passport and ID-card office, I was offended by Chavez giving false identies to Colombian guerillas and passports to terrorists from around the world. This was why I decided to join the democratic resistance. Navy Rear Admiral
Daniel Comisso Urdaneta
In Venezuela right now, we are seeing the active takeover of one of the enemies that we always prepared to fight against: A communist-style ideological infiltration. Chavez finances terrorism, and wants Venezuela to become the banker for similar ideological projects in the rest of the region. Air Force Colonel
Marcos Tulio Salas Vivas
Chávez uses state money and state aircraft for political propaganda and to carry personnel and indoctrination material for his violent Bolivarian terror and attack groups.
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The US, with its porous borders and massive influx of aliens, those who sneak across the border and those who come on through with fake passports provided by terrorist countries in South America, has a responsibility to its citizens to take the actions of Chavez seriously. This article speaks of his nuclear weapons link to Saddam.
Brazilian Plotter Buys Time for Chavez; Has Links to Terrorists and to Saddam
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