www.sun-sentinel.com By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER Associated Press Posted February 21 2003, 2:54 PM EST

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Police searched for the leader of Venezuela's largest labor group Friday after President Hugo Chavez authorized his arrest on treason charges for his role in a general strike that disrupted the economy and the nation's oil industry.

Carlos Ortega, president of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation, remained in hiding after strike co-organizer Carlos Fernandez, head of the nation's largest business group, was arrested and charged with treason Thursday.

Dozens of national guardsmen in riot gear stood guard outside as Fernandez made his first appearance in court Friday. His arrest threatened to spark more turmoil in a country struggling to recover from the strike, which opposition leaders had hoped would force Chavez to resign or call early elections.

Thousands of people around Venezuela protested the Fernandez's arrest, and nine people were injured during clashes with police in the central city of Valencia.

Further protests were planned for Friday.

Opposition negotiators urged the Organization of American States, the United Nations and the Carter Center, run by former President Jimmy Carter, to send representatives to condemn the government's actions and revive talks aimed at organizing a new election.

The U.S. State Department said the arrest of strike leaders would lead to more political violence in the world's fifth leading oil-exporting nation.

President Chavez has labeled strike organizers as ``coup plotters'' and appeared unfazed by the opposition reaction to the arrest orders.

One of the coup plotters was arrested last night. It was about time, and see how the others are running to hide,'' Chavez said Thursday. I went to bed with a smile.''

Chavez, a former paratrooper who was elected in 1998 and re-elected two years later, seemed to hint at further arrests, saying judges should not ``be afraid to issue arrest warrants against coup-plotters.''

Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez said Fernandez and Ortega were the only opposition leaders wanted for arrest, but ruling party lawmaker Luis Velasquez said that about 100 more people who supported the strike, ranging from labor bosses to news media executives, could be arrested.

``More than 100 are on the list to be captured,'' Velasquez said. The existence of such a list could not be immediately confirmed.

Ortega remained at large and pledged to ``continue the fight'' while in hiding.

``The only one who has a date with justice is the president,'' the labor leader told the local Globovision TV station by telephone.

Fernandez and Ortega face charges of treason, rebellion and instigating violence for their roles in orchestrating the strike, which continues in the vital oil industry.

Labor and business leaders warned of another nationwide strike in response to the arrest orders. The earlier work stoppage cost Venezuela an estimated $4 billion.

Chavez supporters gathered near the police headquarters, where Fernandez was being held, and a downtown plaza to celebrate the arrest.

``It's what had to be done. These opposition leaders tried to destroy the country; now they must be punished,'' said Tomas Ordonez, a 49-year-old taxi driver.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Friday, February 21, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: I have recently received two letters on a similar subject ... both sent to VHeadline.com. One is from Keith Davis from the Bolivarian Fund. The other is from Paul Volgyesi, who writes frequent letters.  Mr. Davis' letter comments on my editorial "A Government that does not Govern" while Paul's letter comments on my "Corruption in the times of Chavez."

Keith Davis claims that the definition of a legitimate government sounds good and noble but is "not realistic," adding ... to prove his point ... that overwhelming consensus was not present in Bush's economic proposals.

Davis did not read my piece well since I talk about the need for overwhelming consensus on the legitimacy of the system, not on every policy followed by government.

What I said is that there is far from overwhelming consensus on the legitimacy of Chavez' government. In fact, there seems to be overwhelming consensus on its illegitimacy, after four years of disastrous performance and increasing contempt for democratic procedures.

Davis says that an effective bureaucracy can be "a blessing or a curse." Frankly, I will run that risk any time since I can not see how an effective bureaucracy can be a curse, while in the Venezuela of Chavez I clearly see how an ineffective bureaucracy is definitely a curse.

The example given by Davis about the PDVSA bureaucracy swelling with political patrons shows that he is not well-informed about this subject. Politicization of PDVSA is taking place now ... of the worst kind, since the people coming into the company now is a "lumpen" without the slightest idea of what a petroleum company is all about.

To claim, as Davis does, that the old PDVSA increased production to glut the world markets, shows considerable ignorance of the subject matter, since Venezuelan production lacks the punch to "glut" world markets.  When the oil price fell to $7 a barrel, all OPEC producers were overproducing.

Control over the military is a pre-requisite of a democracy. In April last year the military ousted Chavez and another military group put him back in. Today, the only support left to Chavez is that of a small group of the military which, however, concentrates most of the fire power. The Generals leading these groups are on Chavez's payroll but the arrangement is fragile. The important concept is that we can not have a civilized country when the President is the puppet of a small group of Generals.

The second section of the letter gets less easy to understand.

Mr. Davis feels that I should suggest replacements to the scoundrels who make up today's Chavez cabinet ... but, who am I to suggest such a thing?  Chavez has selected them, no others ... they are the ones Chavez likes.

What I said is that Venezuela has many distinguished men and women who could accompany a President in the tasks of government. But, I also said that Chavez is not interested in the best but in the most servile ... he despises the best, probably because he sees them as the type of people he can not hope to be.

Mr. Davis seems to believe that Chavez would pay attention to my suggestions for replacement of the gallery of horrors that he has built.  Who is being naive?

On the other hand, I have to say that no decent Venezuelan would accept a cabinet position in a Chavez' government. This, Mr. Davis, is a matter of principle.

Mr. Davis seems to believe that I shared government responsibilities in the past. I have never been a politician ... always a manager ... never had a political appointment, except for three months as Secretary of State in Carabobo, in a career of 35 years. The tragedies of mismanagement in Venezuela did not happened "on my watch," as you mention.

Two final observations.

One, Chavez has never attempted reconciliation. Second, my job today is that of a critic of this grotesque government. This is the way I feel I can best  serve my country. This is what I will continue to do. I am amazed at your offer to "finance half the cost of rebuilding the school system of Venezuela." You must have great financial power. But, you see, Mr. Davis: Education is not a matter of money but of values and manners. A bunch of gorillas with millions of dollars can only produce a society of more numerous gorillas. So, Thank you for your offer but, no thanks.

The letter from Paul Volgyesi is more compact and easier to read. It is also kinder although Mr. Davis's letter was not aggressive. He starts by saying that I am "a lonely voice of the decent opposition." Not true. The decent opposition runs into the thousands, dear friend. My activities, I would like to think, are an asset to my country, not to Chavez. I have dedicated years to fighting corruption, but I do not believe Chavez is interested in doing that. In four years he has not done it. It is theoretically true that I do not have to like Chavez to help Chavez to govern. But the problem is deeper than that. More than liking or disliking, this is an issue of values.  My values are different from Chavez's. How can I help him if this means betraying my values?

Dear Paul, I wish I could tell Chavez that his place in history depends on the zeal with which he engaged in a fight against corruption ... and I wish he listened. The problem is that he does not listen. The problem is that he has used his time pursuing other objectives. The problem is that he is not the man to put this country right.

I appreciate the way you treat me in your letter, with velvet gloves. This is encouraging to me as it means that you believe in my sincerity even if you do not agree with my opinions.

This is not always the case. I can assure you that I want a true democracy for Venezuela, one in which the President will be a President for all, without hate in his heart. I want to see independent institutions ... honest and courageous political leaders. I want to see education as the cornerstone of the fight against poverty, rather than handouts. I want to see a concerted action among members of society to minimize the tragedy of street children.

But, most of all, I very badly miss the country we had before Chavez ... a country in which we could all smile to each other.

• I do not say that that country did not have to be put right.

I am saying that to put that country right, we did not have to include hate and resentment and distrust into our social equation.

Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983.  In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort.  You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email ppcvicep@telcel.net.ve

world.scmp.com Friday, February 21, 2003 REUTERS in Caracas VENEZUELA

Updated at 11.06am:

Venezuelan police overnight (HK time) arrested a top industrialist for civil rebellion after he led a strike against President Hugo Chavez, in a move opponents feared was the start of a political witch-hunt.

Shots rang out as protesters and private bodyguards faced off with the state security officers who grabbed Carlos Fernandez outside a Caracas steakhouse at around midnight on Wednesday and bundled the white-haired executive into a waiting car, officials and witnesses said.

A judge ordered Fernandez and union boss Carlos Ortega, who led a crippling two-month shutdown to oust Mr Chavez, detained for rebellion against the state, sabotage and other charges. Ortega told reporters by telephone that he had gone into hiding.

Opposition leaders, who accuse Mr Chavez of wielding power like a dictator, said they would step up their demonstrations to protest an arrest they condemned as illegal. Their complaints were dismissed by the attorney general.

''This is not just aggression against these two people. It's aggression against Venezuela's freedoms,'' union leader Manual Cova said at a press conference.

Mr Chavez hailed the arrest of Fernandez, a prominent private sector leader, as belated justice for ''terrorists'' in what his opponents feared was just the beginning of a crackdown.

The president, who was briefly ousted in a coup in April, has taken a tough stance against opponents since strike leaders called off their nationwide shutdown in early February. He has declared 2003 as the ''year of the offensive.''

''These people should have been jailed a long time ago,'' Chavez said grinning widely as he recounted hearing about the arrest. ''At one in the morning I sent for the sweet cooked papaya from my mother, to savor it, because it's not about hate, but justice.''

www.nytimes.com

Americans have a twofold interest in Venezuela's resolution of its current political problems peacefully and constitutionally. The country sits atop the largest petroleum fields outside the Middle East, with most of its oil exports going to the United States. A nationwide strike has sharply lowered those exports in recent months. Venezuela may also be the most fragile of Latin America's growing number of troubled democracies. A turn toward authoritarianism of the left or right could have damaging ripple effects across the region.

Regrettably, President Hugo Chávez, instead of working to heal his badly divided country, seems determined to provoke new and dangerous tensions. Less than two days after government and opposition representatives promised to step back from their confrontation, two of the country's most visible opposition leaders face charges of rebellion, sabotage and a series of other crimes growing out of their leadership of a now faltering national strike.

Carlos Fernández, who leads Venezuela's most important business federation, was arrested early yesterday. Carlos Ortega, the head of the country's main union alliance, has gone into hiding. The vindictive charges against them could undo the modest progress recently made toward a peaceful, constitutional resolution of Venezuela's long-running political crisis.

The strike led by Mr. Fernández and Mr. Ortega aimed at forcing Mr. Chávez from power. The right way to determine Venezuela's political future is through democratic elections. The Constitution devised by Mr. Chávez permits a recall vote this August. Between now and then, all sides should work to calm the inflamed political atmosphere. That seemed possible as recently as Tuesday, when government and opposition representatives issued a joint declaration pledging efforts to promote reconciliation and mutual understanding. Then came the two arrest orders.

Mr. Chávez's opponents were already alarmed by the kidnapping and murder of four anti-Chávez demonstrators, whose bodies were found earlier this week. Police investigators now suggest that the killings were not politically motivated, but the victims' relatives disagree.

It's easy to see why. Earlier this month Mr. Chávez proclaimed this the "year of the revolutionary offensive." He vowed to take retribution against his many enemies, especially the strike leaders. Days later he introduced currency controls, and ominously warned that they could be used as a financial weapon against opposition businessmen. The state oil company has permanently dismissed thousands of striking workers.

These steps threaten to overwhelm the compromise proposals put forth by Jimmy Carter after a mediation mission last month. His ideas drew positive responses from both sides and encouragement from Washington. The centerpiece of the package was a recall vote or new elections after August. Preliminary steps called for the opposition to end its strike and for the government to refrain from reprisals. That remains good advice. Unfortunately, Mr. Chávez, having all but vanquished the strike, no longer seems to be listening.

www.channelnewsasia.com First created : 21 February 2003 1157 hrs (SST) 0357 hrs (GMT) Last modified : 21 February 2003 1204 hrs (SST) 0404 hrs (GMT)

Carlos Fernandes was seized outside a Caracas steakhouse at around midnight and bundled into a waiting car.Advertisement Mr Fernandez, along with union boss Carlos Ortega, were believed to have started a crippling two-month strike to oust President Hugo Chavez.

A judge ordered the two to be detained for rebellion against the state, sabotage and other charges.

Opposition leaders, whose complaints against the arrest were dismissed, stepped up demonstrations.

The crackdown has also triggered concern from the international community.

The United States said the arrest was worrisome and could undermine talks between the government and opposition over the Venezuelan elections.