Blast Destroys Venezuela Office Building

Posted on Sat, Apr. 12, 2003 STEPHEN IXER sunheral.com-Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - A pre-dawn bomb blast ripped through the building where Venezuela's government and opposition have been negotiating a peace agreement, destroying three floors but injuring no one.

The attack at about 2:45 a.m. Saturday came one day after the Organization of American States 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 negotiator said the blast was intended to intimidate his delegation at the talks, while the government blamed "coup-plotting" sectors of the opposition.

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, said Caracas fire chief Rodolfo Briceno.

Firefighters evacuated 40 people from a neighboring 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 Saturday'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."

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, a member of the government's negotiating team, condemned the bombing. "I don't want to point the finger at anyone, but there are reasons to think that coup-plotting sectors of the opposition were behind these actions," Rangel said.

Venezuela has been steeped in months of upheaval over Chavez's leftist rule. His opponents launched a two-month strike in December to force his resignation or early elections. They succeeded only in crippling oil production 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. Such a vote is legally permitted after the president has served half of his term - August, in Chavez's case.

Serious disagreements over the referendum persist. Chavez says that more than 2.5 million signatures gathered by the opposition to petition for the vote are invalid. He argues the constitution doesn't allow citizens to begin collecting signatures until August. Foes insist they can be gathered at anytime.

New election authorities currently being set up by the National Assembly must decide the issue and verify the signatures before the referendum can be held.

Chavez is also insisting on the right to run in new elections if he loses the referendum. Opposition leaders are against the idea. Polls indicate 60 percent of Venezuelans would vote against the president in a referendum. But polls suggest Chavez could win elections against a divided opposition lacking in visible leadership.