Venezuelan strike leader seized by secret police; opposition threatens another general strike

www.sfgate.com JAMES ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer Thursday, February 20, 2003

(02-20) 09:11 PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --

A leader of Venezuela's general strike was snatched out of a restaurant by secret police and faces charges of treason and instigating violence for his role in mass, anti-government protests that crippled the nation's economy.

On Thursday, the morning after the midnight arrest of Carlos Fernandez, opposition leaders threatened to call a new strike in response.

Strike co-leader Carlos Ortega, of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation, was ordered to surrender, also on treason and instigating violence charges, said magistrate Maikel Jose Moreno.

Ortega and Fernandez, president of Venezuela's largest business federation, Fedecamaras, led the two-month strike that started Dec. 2, seeking to oust leftist President Hugo Chavez. The strike ended this month except in Venezuela's oil sector.

Chavez accuses the two strike leaders of trying to topple his government.

Eight armed men seized Fernandez at about midnight Wednesday as he was leaving a restaurant in Caracas' trendy Las Mercedes district, his bodyguard, Juan Carlos Fernandez, told Globovision TV.

He said the men, who identified themselves as police agents, fired into the air when patrons tried to stop them from taking Fernandez away.

Ortega condemned the arrest as "a terrorist act" against Venezuela's opposition, already shaken by the slayings and possible torture of three dissident Venezuelan soldiers and an opposition activist.

International human rights groups have demanded an investigation into the slayings of the four, whose bodies were found in the suburbs of Caracas with hands tied and faces wrapped with tape.

Darwin Arguello, Angel Salas and Felix Pinto and opposition activist Zaida Peraza, 25, had multiple bullet wounds and showed signs of torture, Raul Yepez, deputy director of Venezuela's forensics police, said Wednesday.

He said the four were abducted Saturday night.

According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, a witness saw the victims being forced into two vehicles by men wearing ski masks, not far from a plaza that has become the opposition's central rallying point.

"The circumstances strongly suggest that these were political killings," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch.

Yepez said police had "practically ruled out" political motives. There have been no arrests.

Dissident soldiers supported the nationwide strike, which demanded Chavez's resignation or call for early elections. The strike was lifted Feb. 4 in all areas except the oil industry to protect businesses from bankruptcy.

The vice president of the Fedecamaras business association, Albis Munoz, warned of another nationwide strike. She said Fernandez was seized without a court order and was being held at secret police headquarters.

"Definitely there will be actions, and very strong actions," Munoz said, adding that Fernandez was "practically kidnapped."

"There has been no way of communicating with him," she said.

Opposition leaders called for street protests and appealed to the Organization of American States, the United Nations and the Carter Center, run by former President Jimmy Carter, which have brokered talks here.

One opposition delegate to those talks, Rafael Alfonzo, said Fernandez's abduction made a mockery of a "peace pact" renouncing violence that government and opposition negotiators signed on Wednesday.

"This government doesn't want to negotiate. It only wants conflict. We won't back down," Alfonzo said.

OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria issued a statement urging Venezuela's judiciary to treat Fernandez's case in "strict compliance with the laws and rights guaranteed by the (Venezuelan) constitution."

Chavez was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, vowing to wipe out the corruption of previous governments and redistribute Venezuela'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.

Having abandoned their strike, opponents are now petitioning for a constitutional amendment to cut Chavez's term in power from six to four years.

They said Wednesday that more than 4.4 million Venezuelans had signed, well over the 15 percent of registered voters, or about 1.8 million, needed to force a referendum on early elections.