Maracaibo's Sunday car bomb close to Chevron linked to rancher family feud

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Interior & Justice (MIJ) Minister, General (ret.) Lucas Rincon Romero says the police believe that the Maracaibo car bomb has more to do with an age-old vendetta between the Melean and Semprun families than anything else. 

Zulia State Police Detective Branch (CICPC) director, Idelfonso Urdaneta suggests that the car bomb may have been aimed at Rancher kingpin, Antonio Melean. The two rancher familes are said to be a law unto themselves in Zulia ... both families have suffered death from assassinations.

However, opposition groups continue to claim that it was a government-inspired attack to eliminate Melean, who had been a leading light in the anti-government national stoppage and the new Lands Law. 

The police will interrogate Melean today on the car bomb episode.

Meanwhile in Caracas, there has been growing speculation regarding a CCTV video showing persons, who allegedly planted the bomb in front of the Colombian consulate.

 MIJ Minister Rincon Romero says Venezuelan security forces have not reported knowledge of the video and has asked the Colombians to supply the video, if indeed it exists.