Bomb blasts negotiations site in Venezuela capital

Reuters, alerten.org NEWSDESK 12 Apr 2003 13:41:20 GMT

CARACAS, Venezuela, April 12 (Reuters) - A bomb ripped through an office building early on Saturday in Caracas, where hours earlier Venezuelan government and opposition negotiators had agreed to hold a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's government, police said.

No one was injured in the blast, which badly damaged the lower floors of the Caracas Teleport building, including the basement where the negotiators had met with Organization of American States officials.

Only two people were in the office block at the time of the explosion, which bent metal girders, blew out chunks of masonry and shattered windows, scattering debris outside. Police investigators picked through the rubble.

Police said the explosion was similar to Feb. 25 bomb attacks in Caracas at a Spanish Embassy technical office and the Colombian consulate.

"The people who did this are trying to cause terror and trauma in Venezuela's population," said police detective inspector Carlos Medina.

Saturday's blast followed several bomb explosions in the past six weeks in Caracas and other Venezuelan cities, which have been gripped by political feuding and violence between supporters and foes of the left-wing Chavez.

It occurred on the first anniversary of a short-lived coup last year against the populist president, who is accused by his political foes of ruling like a dictator and trying to install Cuba-style communism in Venezuela.

OAS representatives said Friday that negotiators from Chavez's government and the opposition had agreed to work toward holding a referendum on Chavez's rule after Aug 19, halfway through his current term.

The agreement, to be formally signed by both sides April 22, did not set a date for the poll but boosted hopes for a peaceful, negotiated solution to the political crisis that has rocked the world's No. 5 oil exporter for more than a year.