OUTRAGE IN VENEZUELA AT HOUSE ARREST - Chavez opponents threaten to ditch peace pact
CARACAS - A pact condemning political violence, signed last week by the government of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and opposition leaders, appeared to be breaking down on Monday as opponents threatened to withdraw from the accord.
Tens of thousands of President Chavez's opponents protesting against his government in Caracas. An opposition-led strike in December and January had failed to result in early elections and force Mr Chavez to resign. -- AFP
Opponents of Mr Chavez, grouped in the Democratic Coordinator, warned that they could rescind their side of the agreement unless the international community pressed the government into upholding the accord.
The warning follows the house arrest of Mr Carlos Fernandez, head of the Fedecamaras business federation, by armed security police in a heavy-handed midnight raid last week.
Mr Fernandez is facing charges of 'criminal instigation' and 'civil rebellion' for his role in co-leading a two-month strike in December and January aimed, unsuccessfully, at pressing for early elections and forcing Mr Chavez's resignation.
'If the international community does absolutely nothing and the government does not uphold its side of the agreement, we will withdraw,' said opposition negotiator Timoteo Zambrano, in talks facilitated by the Organisation of American States (OAS).
No outside sanctions were agreed as part of the accord, but opponents of Mr Chavez had hoped members of a six-nation Group of Friends would lend diplomatic weight to reinforce the OAS-sponsored agreement.
The group - consisting of Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Portugal, Spain and the United States - was formed last month to give fresh impetus to a four-month-old effort by the OAS to broker an electoral solution to the country's political deadlock.
However, in a sign that Mr Chavez is willing to put already cool diplomatic relations on the line to deflect outside pressure, he has bluntly warned both the OAS and the Group of Friends not to interfere in domestic affairs. --Financial Times