Chavez hits back as police swoop on businessman who led strike

www.smh.com.au By Owain Johnson in Caracas February 22 2003

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

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

Mr Ramos Allup said politicians, businesspeople, union leaders, representatives of striking oil workers and media bosses were on a list.

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

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

The United States criticised Venezuelan authorities on Thursday over the arrest, which it said was "a very worrisome development that can only add to Venezuela's continuing political difficulties".

The country is bracing for more upheaval and renewed protests. The arrest will almost certainly reinvigorate the opposition, which had been exhausted by the costly and bruising strike.

"It seems politically inspired and filled with vengeance and completely miscalculated," said Julia Sweig, a Latin American expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank.

Mr Chavez told a trade forum that after the arrest, "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."

Another leader of the general strike, Carlos Ortega, the president of the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers, is in hiding 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 roles 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 asked 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 soldiers and a young woman, who had disappeared over the weekend.

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

The Guardian, Los Angeles Times and agencies