Gloating Chavez Defends Arrest of Strike Boss

reuters.com Fri February 21, 2003 06:19 PM ET By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Friday railed against international criticism over the arrest of one of his opponents who was detained for leading a strike against the leftist leader.

A squadron of plainclothes police on Friday hustled a grim-faced Carlos Fernandez into the attorney general's office, where he faces civil rebellion and treason charges for spearheading the two-month strike that battered the economy of the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

His arrest late Wednesday at gunpoint drew fire from international organizations and the United States, which said it feared the move would undermine negotiations to end the bitter political feud over the president's rule.

"We are nobody's colony," Chavez roared at a crowd of supporters in western Trujillo state. "We have our own institutions, our own constitution ... and we will not accept meddling in Venezuela's domestic affairs."

DISIP state security police on Friday were still holding Fernandez, a silver-haired trucking executive who leads the Fedecamaras business chamber. He was not formally charged.

Armed officers snatched Fernandez from outside a Caracas restaurant around midnight Wednesday after a judge ordered him and another strike leader, union boss Carlos Ortega, arrested. Ortega, a fierce Chavez critic, has gone into hiding.

Opponents of the populist president, who they accuse of trampling over democracy, have slammed the arrest as illegal and urged the international community to prevent what they fear will descend into a political witch hunt.

They say the judge's decision was politically motivated although the attorney general, a staunch Chavez ally, rejected their claims. The president has repeatedly demanded judges jail his critics.

"Carlos Fernandez is a political prisoner," said Fedecamaras vice president Albis Munoz.

OPPOSITION FEARS OF CRACKDOWN

His arrest, coming shortly after the murky deaths of three dissident soldiers and an anti-Chavez protester, stoked opposition fears of a government crackdown. Police say the four deaths are likely linked to a grudge though relatives blame political persecution.

Amnesty International on Friday joined a chorus of concern in expressing worry for Venezuela's human rights situation and calling for an independent investigation into the killings.

"The judiciary has a key role in preventing these events from triggering an escalation of the human rights crisis," the group said in a statement.

Chavez, who dismisses his critics as "terrorists" and "fascists," has hardened his position against his foes after their strike failed to topple his self-styled revolutionary government. He calls 2003 the "year of the offensive."

The Venezuelan leader, who was elected in 1998 and survived a coup in April, has vowed to defeat opponents he says tried to sabotage the oil industry. The strike briefly choked off oil exports that account for half of the state's revenues.

But opposition leaders say they seek only to press Chavez into elections. Three months of negotiations chaired by the Organization of American States have made little headway. Chavez has so far resisted opposition demands that he accept an early vote to defuse the nation's crisis.

(Additional reporting by Silene Ramirez)