Venezuelans call for justice in violent protest

www.etaiwannews.com 2003-03-10 / Associated Press / CARACAS, Venezuela

Secret police fired shots into the air and launched tear gas canisters at an anti-government rally in a failed attempt to arrest an opposition strike leader.

A crowd of protesters attacked the police vehicles with sticks and stones as they swooped in Saturday to try to seize former oil executive Juan Fernandez. Several vehicles' windshields were broken.

Minutes earlier, Fernandez had emerged from hiding to briefly address the opposition crowd gathered on Caracas highway demanding justice in Venezuela. He was then whisked away by supporters in a waiting car.

Thousands of flag-waving opponents of President Hugo Chavez rallied Saturday in support of the strike leaders while Chavez applauded the arrest of a man accused of slaying four anti-government protesters.

Protesters blocked off traffic and shouted anti-Chavez slogans. Many carried placards with messages like "No to judicial terrorism!" while others waved peace signs.

The protest was called to show support for opposition leaders who led a failed two-month strike against Chavez. One of the leaders is under house arrest and several others, including Fernandez, are on the run from authorities.

Fernandez received rapturous applause for his crowd-pleasing stunt. He warned Chavez to "pack his bag because we are going to get rid of him."

Chavez said Saturday his foes were responsible for recent high profile crimes -- including the bombing of Colombian and Spanish diplomatic missions in Caracas -- in an attempt to smear his government. No one has been arrested for the blasts.

"By God and my mother, there will be justice!" he roared at an event celebrating International Women's Day. Chavez praised the arrest of a man in connection with the murder of three dissident soldiers and an anti-government activist whose bodies were found bound and tortured last month.

Detectives discarded political motives for the murders, saying the evidence pointed toward personal revenge.

Police captured Tayro Aristiguieta in a Caracas slum after his picture was positively identified by witnesses to the crime. Chavez said Aristiguieta had already confessed to the killings.

Businessman Carlos Fernandez, a prominent leader in the devastating national strike, remains under house arrest on charges of rebellion and incitement.

Strike co-leader Carlos Ortega, president of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation, is in hiding after a warrant was issued for his arrest last month.

Seven other strike leaders, all employees of the state oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela SA before being fired for joining the stoppage, also are being hunted by police.

Over 16,000 of PDVSA's 38,000 employees have been fired since the strike began Dec. 2. Critics say the loss of staff has seriously weakened the multinational company, which provides up to 80 percent of Venezuela's export earnings.

But Chavez said this week the oil industry was no longer in an emergency and would be able to fulfill its business contracts for the first time in three months. He said production was up to 2.6 million barrels a day compared with 3.1 million before the strike; fired PDVSA managers say production is at 1.9 million barrels a day.

Also Saturday, soldiers were sent into the streets to launch a new government food distribution scheme, selling cut price staples at open air markets in poor neighborhoods nationwide.

The initiative comes ahead of predicted food shortages by opposition producers who say they cannot continue operations under the government's new price controls.

Fixed prices for basic goods like meat, rice and medicines were introduced as inflation -- fueled by a rapidly devaluating bolivar currency -- threatened to spiral out of control early this year. Inflation reached 8.3 percent in January and February.

The government also imposed exchange controls and fixed the currency at 1598 bolivars per dollar.

Peace talks being mediated by the Organization of American States continued, with officials searching for a solution to Venezuela's acute political standoff. But after four months the negotiations have failed to come close to solving the problem.

The opposition wants early elections on Chavez's presidency, claiming he has undermined the country's democratic institutions and done more harm than good to the national economy.

Chavez, who was first elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, says his foes are "coup-plotters" who want to replace him with the old status quo, when power was concentrated in an elite political and economic minority for decades.