Dominicans considering asylum for brothers who held Chavez during coup

<a href=www.sfgate.com>SFGate.com-AP Friday, April 25, 2003
(04-25) 18:00 PDT SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) --

The government is considering asylum for two former Venezuelan soldiers who allegedly held President Hugo Chavez in custody during a brief coup last year, officials said Friday.

Brothers Alfredo and Ricardo Salazar, both former army captains, entered the Dominican Embassy in Venezuela on Thursday and requested asylum. Their attorney said that they had received death threats.

"The Dominican Foreign Ministry is evaluating the information and corresponding documentation to make a decision," the ministry said in a statement.

During the coup, dissident generals briefly ousted Chavez. The action was spurred by violence that left 19 Venezuelans dead when opposition and pro-government marches clashed in downtown Caracas.

Loyalists in the military returned Chavez to power three days later on April 14.

Since then, the opposition has been pushing for a referendum on Chavez's rule, accusing him of trampling on democratic institutions and alienating investment with leftist policies. The president says his foes want to oust a democratically elected leader and restore power to two corrupt political parties that ruled Venezuela for four decades.

In addition to the brothers, two other Venezuelan army officers requested asylum -- at the Peruvian Embassy in Caracas, officials said Friday. Their request was being reviewed.

Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador Charles S. Shapiro urged Venezuela's government and opposition to strike a deal for a vote on Chavez's presidency, a day after the government refused to sign an internationally brokered pact on the matter.

Venezuela's constitution allows opponents to organize a referendum halfway into the president's six-year term, or next August.

Shapiro said foreign governments are "willing to help the government and opposition on this point if they ask for it."