Venezuelan Strike Leader Leaves for Exile

AP Wire Posted on Thu, Mar. 27, 2003 CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - An opposition leader charged with treason for directing a two-month strike against President Hugo Chavez left Thursday for exile in Costa Rica.

Carlos Ortega, head of the Venezuelan Labor Confederation, was being escorted by federal police from the Costa Rican Embassy to Caracas' international airport for a flight to San Jose, Costa Rica.

Chavez's government granted Ortega safe passage Wednesday, allowing the head of the 1 million-member federation to take advantage of a Costa Rican offer of humanitarian asylum.

Ortega, who called the strike in December trying to force Chavez's resignation and early elections, slipped into the embassy March 14 and requested political asylum after being charged with rebellion and treason. Those charges carry prison terms of up to 20 years each.

A handful of government adversaries waving Venezuelan and Costa Rican flags bid farewell to the burly, tough-talking opposition leader, one of Chavez's most outspoken critics. Ortega briefly raised his fists in a victory gesture before entering a car that sped him to the airport.

Costa Rica granted Ortega diplomatic asylum for humanitarian reasons after the labor boss expressed fears for his life.

Strike co-leader Carlos Fernandez, head of Venezuela's largest business confederation, also was charged with treason after the strike ended in February. He was placed under house arrest, but a court last week said there was insufficient evidence and ordered him freed.

Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez appealed.

The nationwide strike briefly paralyzed Venezuela's crucial oil industry, caused food and fuel shortages and cost the struggling economy at least $6 billion.

In nightly press conferences, Ortega and Fernandez demanded Chavez's resignation, saying his days in office were numbered. Chavez, elected to his current six-year term in 2000, ignored their demands to quit or call a referendum on his presidency.

Chavez's opponents accuse him of riding roughshod over the country's democratic institutions in his self-described "revolution" to help Venezuela's poor.

Chavez in turn accuses the opposition of incessantly conspiring to overthrow his elected government.

Despite dozens of marches, highway blockades, and an ambitious petition drive demanding an early vote, the strike fizzled last month.

Last week, seven former executives of the state oil monopoly emerged from hiding after a judge revoked warrants for their arrest on charges of interrupting the country's fuel supply. They were among 15,000 workers - almost half the work force at Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. - fired for striking.

The Organization of American States has mediated talks since November to find an electoral solution to the political standoff.