Bomb blasts in Venezuela aimed at Colombia, Spain - Explosions follow Chávez's criticism of those countries

www.miami.com Posted on Wed, Feb. 26, 2003 BY PHIL GUNSON Special to The Herald

HEAVY DAMAGE: The facade of the Colombian Consulate in Caracas, Venezuela, is in ruins after early-morning bomb blasts Tuesday struck it and a Spanish facility.

CARACAS - Two powerful bombs exploded outside foreign diplomatic missions Tuesday, deepening the climate of violence in a nation already on edge because of a prolonged political crisis swirling around President Hugo Chávez and his critics.

The bombs went off in the early morning, within 20 minutes of each other. Although there were only four slight injuries -- two caused by flying glass -- the property destruction was considerable.

The four-story Colombian Consulate in the Chacaito district was wrecked, and the Spanish technical cooperation mission -- next door to the Spanish Embassy -- suffered major damage to its gate and exterior wall.

The blast shattered windows in many nearby buildings and showered the streets with debris.

''The consulate is completely devastated,'' said Leopoldo López, mayor of the Chacao municipality, where more than 80 percent of Caracas' diplomatic buildings are located. ''We haven't seen this type of attack in Venezuela before,'' the mayor noted after inspecting the building's interior.

Police sources said the blasts had probably been detonated by remote control using C-4 plastic explosives.

They came just 36 hours after President Hugo Chávez bitterly criticized the Colombian and Spanish governments for expressing concern over the arrest of a leading member of the opposition whose detention was widely seen as part of a political crackdown by Chávez.

The president also denounced the United States and the Organization of American States' secretary-general, César Gaviria.

The Bush administration linked this week's ''sharp verbal attacks'' by Chávez to the upsurge in violence, suggesting that the Venezuelan leader was reneging on a Feb. 18 pledge to curb fiery remarks likely to incite violence.

CONFRONTATION

''The confrontational rhetoric is unwarranted, is unnecessary and is not helpful,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. ``Inflammatory statements by President Chávez are not helpful in advancing the dialogue that is necessary to maintain peace in Venezuela.''

Asked if the Bush administration believed there was a link between fiery remarks by Chávez and the new round of violence, State Dept. spokesman Philip Reeker recounted how Chávez had lashed out at his critics this week.

On his regular Sunday morning TV and radio show Aló Presidente, Chávez at times appeared almost speechless with anger as he denounced those he accused of violating Venezuela's sovereignty.

COUNTRIES' CONCERN

All had expressed concern over the jailing last week of Carlos Fernández, chairman of the business association Fedecámaras and a leader of the recent, 63-day strike aimed at forcing an early election. Additionally, Colombian Interior Minister Fernando Londoño had accused Chávez of having links to Colombia's leftist guerrillas.

''Aznar -- please!'' said Chávez, referring to Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, whose government, he said, had ''applauded'' last April's abortive coup attempt. Both Aznar and César Gaviria, he said, should stick to ``their place.''

Gaviria, a former president of Colombia and now OAS secretary-general, has been attempting since November to achieve a negotiated settlement of the country's political crisis.

To the government of Colombia, he angrily declared: ``Concentrate on governing your own country! And on solving your own problems, which are many! We'll solve ours!''

Flyers attacking foreign ''intervention'' were found at the scenes of the bomb attacks Tuesday.

They bore the names of the Bolivarian Liberation Force -- FBL -- and the Simón Bolívar Coordinator, the CSB, two radical groups that support the Chávez government but which are not known to be linked.

The FBL is a shadowy guerrilla organization which operates near the Colombian border, while the CSB has a public presence in the slums of western Caracas, where it carries out ``community work.''

''Gaviria, Carter, OAS, CIA -- the revolution does not need your self-interested intervention,'' one of the flyers read.

There were several other messages, all apparently laser-printed and in color.

Juan Contreras, leader of the CSB, said the organization condemned the attack, which he attributed to ``some elements of the opposition which are desperate to return to power.''

''I don't think anyone with any sense would carry out an attack like this and then say they did it,'' Contreras added.

The opposition Democratic Coordinator, or CD, has accused the Chávez government of violating the terms of an antiviolence agreement signed last week -- the first concrete achievement of the talks chaired by Gaviria.

ALREADY UNHAPPY

Even before the bombings, Timoteo Zambrano, a member of the opposition negotiating team, said the CD might ''withdraw its signatures'' from the agreement.

In the aftermath of the attacks, opposition leaders accused Chávez of contributing to a climate of violence by using the kind of ''wounding language'' specifically ruled out by the agreement.

Government spokesmen dismissed the charge. ''We don't believe this is a result of comments and affirmations by the president,'' said the interior minister, Gen. Lucas Rincón.

Herald staff writer Tim Johnson contributed to this report.