Venezuela's Chavez Confines Police Force

Posted on Thu, Apr. 17, 2003 CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela -They used to be keepers of the peace. Now the 500 police officers under Miguel Pinto's command are mostly just killing time.

Ever since President Hugo Chavez clamped down on the Caracas police, charging them with instigating a coup, Pinto's 500 motorcycle police officers spend most of their days playing chess or exercising at their hilltop precinct.

Soldiers search them as they enter or leave the building, and allow only limited patrols. They've also taken away the officers' submachine guns, tear gas grenades and shotguns.

"They took all of our arms except the .38-caliber revolvers," said Pinto, chief of the police department's Phoenix motorcycle brigade. "We're practically defenseless."

Chavez brushed aside a Supreme Court ruling and said he would keep his firm grip on the 9,000-strong city police because they were "the lance that started the coup" last year. Police deny it and complain crime is booming because of the restrictions.

The coup began after 19 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded when gunfire erupted during an opposition march to the presidential palace on April 11, 2002.

The bloodshed prompted several generals to oust Chavez. Loyalist troops restored the president on April 14.

The government insists city police fired indiscriminately at civilian Chavez supporters and illegally detained cabinet ministers. Police deny firing at pro-Chavez gunmen and say they had no hand in the detentions.

In December, Venezuela's Supreme Court ordered the government to return police control to Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena, a Chavez opponent.

The government has yet to do so. On Wednesday, a court ordered the arrests of eight police officers accused of killing two people and wounding 35 at the march. Pena's government will appeal the ruling, his spokesman, Ramon Muchacho, said Thursday.

The same court had dismissed murder charges against four Chavez supporters who allegedly were videotaped shooting into the crowd. It upheld lesser charges of improper use of firearms.

Demoralized police commanders say that Chavez's takeover has reduced patrols and given criminals the edge in this capital of 4 million people.

Soldiers have confiscated weapons, impounded many police vehicles and stationed armored personnel carriers outside police precincts to monitor officers' movements.

Pena says police are now outgunned by criminals using Uzi submachine guns, grenades and high-powered rifles equipped with silencers and armor-piercing bullets. Bandits recently launched a rocket-propelled grenade on a city highway to rob an armored truck.

"These violent groups enjoy total impunity," Pena said. "Chavez wants to maintain that impunity and the police are an obstacle to that plan."

Since November, 16 officers have been killed and more than 100 wounded, Pena said. One officer was killed in an ambush by government supporters, police say.

Chavez supporters say the police needed to be reined in.

"The police force was equipped like a small army," said legislator Nestor Leon, who claims city police routinely suppressed pro-government demonstrations.

Lina Ron, a prominent Chavez street activist whose followers have attacked opposition marches, insists police must be punished for the events of April 2002.

"They executed our comrades," Ron said. "The takeover must continue and those responsible for the deaths that day must be brought to justice."