Venezuela arrests strike leader - Opposition alleges witch-hunt after armed police seize businessman at restaurant

www.guardian.co.uk Owain Johnson in Caracas Friday February 21, 2003 The Guardian

Venezuela's opposition has accused President Hugo Chavez of beginning a witch-hunt against his critics, after a leading opposition figure was arrested in a dramatic raid and another was forced into hiding.

Henry Ramos Allup, the president of the opposition party Democratic Action, said he had reliable information that the government was planning to arrest a further 25 key opponents.

Mr Ramos Allup said the list included politicians, businesspeople, union leaders, representatives of striking oil workers and media bosses.

The claim came after the arrest of Carlos Fernandez, the leader of business association Fedecamaras, in a swoop on a Caracas restaurant by masked, armed police shortly after midnight on Wednesday.

Mr Fernandez was one of the leaders of a crippling two-month general strike which forced Venezuela to suspend crucial oil exports and severely damaged its fragile economy.

Witnesses said the heavily armed men did not show any identification or an arrest warrant. The business leader tried to escape in his car, but was quickly caught and taken to police headquarters. Diners who tried to prevent the arrest were driven off by the police, who fired into the air.

Mr Chavez spoke yesterday about Mr Fernandez's arrest. He told a trade forum that "I went to bed with a smile. "One of the coup plotters was arrested last night. It was about time, and see how the others are running to hide." A second leader of the general strike, Carlos Ortega, the president of the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV), was in hiding last night with a warrant out for his arrest.

He said he did not trust Venezuelan justice and warned that the government wanted "to kidnap me and eliminate me".

A pro-government deputy, Luis Velasquez, later confirmed that 100 people could expect to be questioned about their role in promoting the strike. "This shouldn't be a source of alarm," Mr Velasquez said. "They simply have to answer to the courts."

The government had requested the public prosecutor's office to charge Mr Fernandez and Mr Ortega with rebellion, treason, instigation to commit criminal acts, conspiracy and sabotage. Mr Fernandez's arrest took place just days after the discovery of the bodies of three dissident military soldiers and a young woman, who had disappeared over the weekend.

The four victims, who had been shot dead, were found bound and gagged. Their bodies showed injuries consistent with torture.

The three men were part of a group of rebel officers who have declared themselves in rebellion against president Chavez, and their families immediately condemned their murder as politically inspired.

The Venezuelan opposition was due to hold crisis talks late last night to discuss its response to these latest developments in the country's long-running political crisis. Last April dissident military officers launched a short-lived coup against the government.

Mr Chavez's opponents accuse him of authoritarianism and of seeking to install Cuban-style socialism in Venezuela. The president rejects these allegations and accuses his critics of seeking to prevent him from carrying out much-needed social reforms.

A senior opposition figure, Andres Velasquez, the leader of the Radical Cause party, has urged his colleagues to call a further one-day strike in protest at the arrest of Mr Fernandez.

Mr Velasquez said the arrest had "torn into pieces" the accord reached on Tuesday by the government and opposition to reduce tension in the oil-rich country.

The agreement was the first tangible sign of progress in three months of negotiations between the two sides under the auspices of the Organisation of American States, and Mr Velasquez said the opposition leader's arrest was "an insult" to the OAS secretary-general, Cesar Gaviria, who has been chairing the negotiations and left Caracas only hours earlier.

In a communique from Barcelona, Mr Gaviria urged the Venezuelan authorities to ensure that "judicial decisions are taken independently, impartially, in strict accordance with the law and with the rights enshrined in the constitution".