Grenade targets Algerian envoy's home in Venezuela
www.alertnet.org
10 Jan 2003 16:48 By Pascal Fletcher
CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan 10 (Reuters) - A grenade exploded late on Thursday at the Venezuelan residence of the ambassador from Algeria, which has offered to assist President Hugo Chavez in his struggle to crush an opposition strike crippling vital oil exports, police said on Friday.
The blast at the Caracas residence blew shrapnel around the courtyard, damaging a car. But neither Ambassador Mohamed Khelladi nor members of his family or staff were injured, the police said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but the Chavez government was quick to blame the attack on hard-line political opponents supporting a 40-day-old strike that has throttled oil production and shipments by OPEC member Venezuela, the world's fifth largest petroleum exporter.
"This is part of the conspiracy against our institutions. This is the coup-mongering face of the Venezuelan opposition," Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton told Reuters as he inspected the scene of the explosion with the ambassador.
"This was to kill. ... It was clearly a terrorist attack against the people and the government of Venezuela and Algeria," Khelladi said.
The whitewashed wall of the residence courtyard showed shrapnel marks, along with bloodstains from the residence's pet dog, which was injured in the blast.
Algeria and other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have offered to help Venezuela counter the effects of the strike. Chavez said recently that Algeria would send a group of oil experts and workers to help re-start strike-bound oil tankers and refineries.
Police said the explosive device appeared to have been thrown over the wall of the residence in Caracas' exclusive Country Club district. "It seems to have been a fragmentation grenade," said Police Inspector Ali Magdaleno.
THREATS AGAINST EMBASSIES
The explosion followed bomb threats made against several foreign embassies in Caracas. The German, Canadian and Australian embassies were evacuated on Thursday after receiving calls made in the name of a previously unheard of group, the Patriotic Committee for Venezuela.
Other embassies received similar threats.
Tensions have been rising as foes of the populist Chavez press ahead with the strike, which has spawned economic and political turmoil. The strikers want Chavez, accused by his foes of autocratic rule, to resign and hold early elections.
Some foreign embassies in Venezuela, including those of the United States and Britain, have evacuated non-essential personnel during the country's political turmoil and warned their nationals not to travel to the troubled South American country unless absolutely necessary.
Rival street protests by followers and foes of Chavez, who was elected in 1998, often end in violence. Two people were killed in clashes on Friday involving demonstrators from both sides, troops and police.
In recent months, there have been grenade attacks against the offices of anti-Chavez union and business groups and against media organizations critical of the president. The opposition has blamed these on the government.