Bomb rocks Venezuelan talks HQ

The Associated press From correspondents in Caracas April 13, 2003

A BOMB blast yesterday heavily damaged the building that served as the headquarters for internationally sponsored negotiations between Venezuela's government and opposition.

No one was injured in the explosion which happened at 4.45pm AEST yesterday, said Caracas fire chief Rodolfo Briceno.

The attack came one day after the Organisation of American States (OAS) brokered a deal between the government and opposition to work toward a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule.

Federal police chief Carlos Medina said the attack may have been politically motivated. An opposition leader said the blast was intended to intimidate his delegation which attended the talks.

The explosion destroyed the first three floors of the Teleport building in central Caracas, shattering windows, destroying the entrance and twisting steel gates.

Elevator cables hung from the facade and broken glass, roof tiles and light fixtures littered the ground.

A night watchman and a technician, the only two people inside the building when the blast hit, were unharmed, Briceno said.

Firefighters evacuated 40 people from a neighbouring building.

"It was felt in various zones of Caracas," Briceno said. "There was a lot of panic."

Medina said the perpetrators may have been the same ones behind bombs that destroyed the Spanish embassy and the Colombian consulate in February.

Investigators have suspects in the embassy explosions, Medina said, though he declined to give names.

"Judging from the type of damage, it may have been the same group," Medina said.

He added that yesterday's blast was an expert job, and the explosive appeared to have been homemade.

Rafael Alfonzo, an opposition negotiator, said the attack was an attempt to intimidate his delegation at the peace talks.

"This permanent intimidation ... is very worrying," Alfonzo said. "Every time we get an advance, every time there is the possibility of establishing the foundations for a recall referendum, then something like this happens."

There was no immediate comment from the government.

Chavez was scheduled to address the National Assembly overnight to mark the anniversary of the April 12, 2002 coup that ousted him for two days.

Venezuela has been steeped in months of upheaval over Chavez's leftist rule. The president weathered a two-month strike to force his resignation or early elections.

The strike, which collapsed in February, temporarily crippled Venezuela's oil industry, costing the country $US6 billion ($9.93 billion) and devastating the economy.

After five months of OAS-brokered talks, the government and opposition agreed to work toward a referendum to ask Venezuelans whether Chavez should step down. The Associated Press