Shots Fired as Venezuela Police Nab Strike Boss

abcnews.go.com Feb. 20 — By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan police hauled away a business chief who led a strike against President Hugo Chavez after a judge ordered the arrest of prominent foes of the leftist leader, opposition leaders said on Thursday.

Shots rang out as protesters and private bodyguards faced off with the state security officers who grabbed Carlos Fernandez outside a Caracas steakhouse at midnight and bundled the white-haired strike leader into a waiting car, officials and witnesses said.

A judge ordered Fernandez and union boss Carlos Ortega, who led a crippling two-month shutdown to oust Chavez, detained for rebellion against the state, sabotage and other charges. Ortega told reporters he would go into hiding.

Opposition leaders, who accuse Chavez 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 Fernandez arrest.

"This is not just aggression against these two people. It's aggression against Venezuelan liberty," union leader Manual Cova said at a press conference.

The arrest rattled the opposition, already reeling from the killings of three dissident soldiers and an anti-Chavez protester whose bodies were discovered this week. Police say the deaths likely involved a personal grudge, but grieving relatives blamed political persecution.

Chavez hailed the arrest of Fernandez, a prominent private sector leader, 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," Chavez 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."

"YEAR OF THE OFFENSIVE"

Chavez, who survived a coup in April, has taken a tough stance against opponents since strike leaders called off their nationwide shutdown in early February, when it began to fizzle out. 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 the oil industry of the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter. Chavez has clamored for judges to jail strikers he calls coup mongers.

The opposition strike briefly crippled the oil exports and production as part of their campaign to push Chavez 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 Fernandez, police investigators scoured for clues on the confusing quadruple homicide of the three rebel soldiers and a female anti-government protester.

About a dozen unidentified gunmen kidnapped the four victims on Saturday night as they left a protest. They were bound, gagged, and some were tortured before they were killed, the police said.

The case has fueled opposition fears that Chavez 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.

Using troops and replacement workers, Chavez has battled to overcome the impact of strike and restore oil exports that provide half of state revenues. He has fired more than 12,000 oil workers, accusing them of trying to destroy the refineries of state oil firm PDVSA.

Dissident oil workers rallied on Thursday outside PDVSA facilities across the nation to protest the government's restructuring. They have vowed to protest until Chavez resigns and reinstates fired employees.

"We will be in the streets permanently. This government wants to return us to the Middle Ages," said strike leader Juan Fernandez. "They are not the present or future of Venezuela."