Venezuela police nab strike boss, Chavez cheers

world.scmp.com Friday, February 21, 2003 REUTERS in Caracas VENEZUELA

Updated at 11.06am:

Venezuelan police overnight (HK time) arrested a top industrialist for civil rebellion after he led a strike against President Hugo Chavez, in a move opponents feared was the start of a political witch-hunt.

Shots rang out as protesters and private bodyguards faced off with the state security officers who grabbed Carlos Fernandez outside a Caracas steakhouse at around midnight on Wednesday and bundled the white-haired executive 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 Mr Chavez, detained for rebellion against the state, sabotage and other charges. Ortega told reporters by telephone that he had gone into hiding.

Opposition leaders, who accuse Mr Chavez of wielding power like a dictator, said they would step up their demonstrations to protest an arrest they condemned as illegal. Their complaints were dismissed by the attorney general.

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

Mr Chavez hailed the arrest of Fernandez, a prominent private sector leader, as belated justice for ''terrorists'' in what his opponents feared was just the beginning of a crackdown.

The president, who was briefly ousted in a coup in April, has taken a tough stance against opponents since strike leaders called off their nationwide shutdown in early February. He has declared 2003 as the ''year of the offensive.''

''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.''