Plaza Altamira shooting suspect transferred to La Planta solitary cells

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 By: David Coleman

Plaza Altamira shooting suspect Joao De Gouveia has been transferred to the La Planta prison in El Paraiso (Caracas) after an appearance before 45th Control Court judge Alejandro Rebolledo. He is being held in protective isolation in a high-security area of the prison because of the risk that he may be brutalized of killed by fellow-inmates.

De Gouveia is being held pending trial for the qualified homicide of three victims and the wounding of more than 20 others in a highly-publicized incident at the rebel HQ in Plaza Altamira on December 6 last year.

Opposition radicals have claimed that De Gouveia was acting under direct orders from President Hugo Chavez Frias, but the claims have been rejected as patently ridiculous despite an underhand propaganda effort by the opposition.

De Gouveia's incarceration has been in direct contrast with house arrest privileges accorded to rebel business leader Carlos Fernandez.