Pro-Chavez lawmaker briefly held

edition.cnn.com Friday, March 7, 2003 Posted: 1830 GMT ( 2:30 AM HKT)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- A legislator who belongs to President Hugo Chavez's political party was kidnapped, robbed and freed Friday, police said.

Two armed men in a Chevy Corsa intercepted Jose Gregorio Castro's taxi Friday morning while he was on his way to the Simon Bolivar International airport, just outside Caracas, said commissioner Carlos Medina, a federal police investigator.

The kidnappers forced Castro and a businessman into the Corsa and drove off. The taxi driver was allowed to go and alerted the police, Medina told Globovision television. Medina said Castro and the businessman, Renzo Basso, were robbed and freed in Catia la Mar, a town in the northern state of Vargas.

There were no immediate arrests or suspects, Medina said.

Castro is a substitute for legislator Calixto Ortega in the National Assembly. Both belong to Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement party.

Crime has risen sharply in Venezuela, which is mired in a deep economic recession and political turmoil. In 2002, there were more than 9,000 homicides in this country of 24 million people, up from almost 8,000 in 2001, according to federal police figures.