Arrest prompts fears of Chávez crackdown

news.ft.com By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas Published: February 20 2003 19:01 | Last Updated: February 20 2003 19:01

Venezuela's government stepped up what appeared to be a retaliatory crackdown on opponents of President Hugo Chávez on Thursday with the arrest of the business leader who led a two-month strike aimed at forcing the president's resignation.

Carlos Fernández, head of the Fedecamaras business federation, was captured by a group of heavily armed men outside a restaurant, witnesses said, and taken to the headquarters of the Disip political police in Caracas.

A judge said a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Mr Fernández on charges of "treason" and "civil rebellion". A similar warrant was also issued for Carlos Ortega, leader of the main labour union, which backed the strike in December and January.

Opposition leaders condemned the detention as evidence that Mr Chávez was drifting towards "dictatorship" and embarking on a "campaign of intimidation". Government legislators said the arrest followed correct legal procedures.

Mr Chávez, emboldened by his survival after the stoppage, has promised to jail the strike's organisers for "sabotaging" the economy and has warned that exchange controls will be used to deprive opposition-aligned businesses of foreign currency.

The strike at Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which is producing only about half of the 3m barrels a day from before the strike, has left what was the world's fifth-largest oil-exporting economy facing a contraction of at least 15 per cent this year.

Rafael Alfonzo, an opposition negotiator in talks intended to defuse Venezuela's political deadlock, said Mr Fernández's arrest undermined an anti-violence pact signed only two days ago with the government.

The agreement was the first breakthrough in three months of negotiations backed by the Organisation of American States aimed at finding an electoral solution to the tensions between Mr Chávez and opposition groups.

Mr Fernández's arrest comes a day after Washington-based Human Rights Watch urged the Venezuelan government to investigate the murder of four opposition supporters this week.

The bodies of three junior military staff and a civilian woman who had joined dissident officers pressing for Mr Chávez's resignation were found dumped on a roadside outside Caracas.

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