www.timesonline.co.uk February 21, 2003 From David Adams in Miami

THE leader of Venezuela’s general strike, Carlos Fernández, was arrested by secret police and charged with treason and civil rebellion yesterday in what appears to be a new crackdown on political opposition by President Chávez.

The arrest comes only two days after the Government and opposition leaders reached an agreement over a non-violence pact to try to ease political tensions. Señor Fernández is president of the country’s business organisation and one of the main leaders of the strike.

He was arrested by armed agents from the Intelligence Police Service while dining at a local steakhouse. He faces charges relating to his leadership of the two-month strike, which has severely restricted his country’s economy. The strike, which lasted from December 2 to February 4, was called to demand President Chávez’s resignation or early elections.

Other strike leaders also face arrest and the President says they should be prosecuted for trying to topple the Government through economic sabotage. The opposition says that Señor Fernández’s arrest is tantamount to a kidnapping and accuses the Government of trying to impose a dictatorial system using threats and intimidation. It said yesterday that it had collected 4.4. million signatures on a petition calling for a constitutional amendment to cut President Chávez’s term in office from six to four years.

Under the constitution, organisers need signatures from 15 per cent, or about 1.8 million, of the country’s 12 million registered voters, to force a referendum on the amendment.

Another strike leader, Carlos Ortega, of the Venezuelan Workers’ Confederation, condemned the arrest as “a terrorist act”.

abcnews.go.com CARACAS, Venezuela Feb. 20 —

Thousands of angry government opponents chanting "This is a dictatorship!" rallied in the capital's streets Thursday, protesting the midnight arrest of a strike leader by secret police.

But President Hugo Chavez triumphantly proclaimed that he authorized the arrest of Carlos Fernandez even though it threatened to re-ignite massive demonstrations and again paralyze the country.

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

Chavez said judges should not "be afraid to issue arrest warrants against coup-plotters."

Carlos Fernandez, head of Venezuela's largest business federation Fedecamaras, was seized by about eight, armed agents around midnight Wednesday as he left a restaurant in Caracas' trendy Las Mercedes district, said his bodyguard, Juan Carlos Fernandez.

The men fired into the air when patrons tried to prevent the arrest, the bodyguard said.

Carlos Fernandez faces charges of treason and instigating violence for leading the two-month strike that began Dec. 2, seeking to oust Chavez and force early elections.

The strike ended Feb. 4 in all sectors except the critical oil industry. Before the strike, Venezuela was the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporter and a major U.S. supplier.

Government allies warned that more than 100 opposition leaders, from labor bosses to news media executives, who supported the strike also could be arrested.

"More than one hundred are on the list to be captured," ruling party lawmaker Luis Velasquez said.

The existence of such a list could not be immediately confirmed.

Opposition sympathizers at Thursday's rally near an air force base in eastern Caracas lambasted Chavez, accusing the leftist leader of trying to establish a Cuban-style dictatorship in this South American nation of 24 million people.

"This is an escalation of violence by the government, which has arrived at the extreme of repression," said Carlos Feijoo, 88, a retired oil worker. "He wants to copy Fidel (Castro)."

Fedecamaras vice president Albis Munoz warned of another nationwide strike in response to the arrest.

"Definitely there will be actions, and very strong actions," Munoz said.

The Confederation of Venezuelan Workers also said a 12- or 24-hour stoppage was possible.

Fernandez's wife, Sonia, spoke briefly with her husband and said he was in good condition at secret police headquarters. Fernandez was meeting with his attorneys, she said.

Chavez supporters gathered near the headquarters 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.

Carlos Fernandez called the strike with Carlos Ortega, president of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation the country's largest labor union.

Ortega was ordered to surrender on treason and instigating violence charges, magistrate Maikel Jose Moreno said, but the tough-talking labor boss said he would not turn himself in.

"We have nothing to fear," Ortega told Globovision TV channel via telephone. "The only one who has a date with justice is the president."

Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, has accused the two opposition leaders of plotting to overthrow his government with the strike and by orchestrating "an economic coup."

Chavez's allies justified the arrest.

"Each member of the opposition must assume ... the legal consequences of acts of oil sabotage and the attempt to topple a legitimate government," ruling party leader Nicolas Maduro said.

Opposition leaders called for more street protests and appealed to the Organization of American States, the United Nations and the Carter Center, run by former President Carter, for mediation.

OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria said in a statement that Venezuelan judges have the autonomy to make such decisions, but they must respect constitutional norms and human rights.

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said officials in Washington worried that Fernandez's arrest could hinder efforts to end the stalemate between Venezuela's political rivals.

"We fear the act could undermine the dialogue process," said Boucher, adding "this increases our concerns about human rights in Venezuela."

www.guardian.co.uk Thursday February 20, 2003 10:30 PM

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Thousands of angry government opponents chanting ``This is a dictatorship!'' rallied in the capital's streets Thursday, protesting the midnight arrest of a strike leader by secret police.

But President Hugo Chavez triumphantly proclaimed that he authorized the arrest of Carlos Fernandez even though it threatened to re-ignite massive demonstrations and again paralyze the country.

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

Chavez said judges should not ``be afraid to issue arrest warrants against coup-plotters.''

Carlos Fernandez, head of Venezuela's largest business federation - Fedecamaras, was seized by about eight, armed agents around midnight Wednesday as he left a restaurant in Caracas' trendy Las Mercedes district, said his bodyguard, Juan Carlos Fernandez.

The men fired into the air when patrons tried to prevent the arrest, the bodyguard said.

Carlos Fernandez faces charges of treason and instigating violence for leading the two-month strike that began Dec. 2, seeking to oust Chavez and force early elections.

The strike ended Feb. 4 in all sectors except the critical oil industry. Before the strike, Venezuela was the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporter and a major U.S. supplier.

Government allies warned that more than 100 opposition leaders, from labor bosses to news media executives, who supported the strike also could be arrested.

``More than one hundred are on the list to be captured,'' ruling party lawmaker Luis Velasquez said.

The existence of such a list could not be immediately confirmed.

Opposition sympathizers at Thursday's rally near an air force base in eastern Caracas lambasted Chavez, accusing the leftist leader of trying to establish a Cuban-style dictatorship in this South American nation of 24 million people.

This is an escalation of violence by the government, which has arrived at the extreme of repression,'' said Carlos Feijoo, 88, a retired oil worker. He wants to copy Fidel (Castro).''

Fedecamaras vice president Albis Munoz warned of another nationwide strike in response to the arrest.

``Definitely there will be actions, and very strong actions,'' Munoz said.

The Confederation of Venezuelan Workers also said a 12- or 24-hour stoppage was possible.

Fernandez's wife, Sonia, spoke briefly with her husband and said he was in good condition at secret police headquarters. Fernandez was meeting with his attorneys, she said.

Chavez supporters gathered near the headquarters 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.

Carlos Fernandez called the strike with Carlos Ortega, president of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation - the country's largest labor union.

Ortega was ordered to surrender on treason and instigating violence charges, magistrate Maikel Jose Moreno said, but the tough-talking labor boss said he would not turn himself in.

We have nothing to fear,'' Ortega told Globovision TV channel via telephone. The only one who has a date with justice is the president.''

Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, has accused the two opposition leaders of plotting to overthrow his government with the strike and by orchestrating ``an economic coup.''

Chavez's allies justified the arrest.

``Each member of the opposition must assume ... the legal consequences of acts of oil sabotage and the attempt to topple a legitimate government,'' ruling party leader Nicolas Maduro said.

Opposition leaders called for more street protests and appealed to the Organization of American States, the United Nations and the Carter Center, run by former President Carter, for mediation.

OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria said in a statement that Venezuelan judges have the autonomy to make such decisions, but they must respect constitutional norms and human rights.

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said officials in Washington worried that Fernandez's arrest could hinder efforts to end the stalemate between Venezuela's political rivals.

We fear the act could undermine the dialogue process,'' said Boucher, adding this increases our concerns about human rights in Venezuela.''

www.washingtonpost.com By Scott Wilson Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, February 20, 2003; 12:11 PM

BOGOTA, Colombia, Feb. 20--Venezuela's secret police have arrested one opposition leader and are searching for another as President Hugo Chavez follows through with his pledge to punish those behind the financially crippling general strike that failed to oust him from office.

Carlos Fernandez, head of Venezuela's largest business federation, was arrested late Wednesday night by eight secret service agents as he dined at an upscale restaurant in eastern Caracas. Fernandez was taken to the headquarters of the Disip, as the secret-police agency is known, where opposition leaders say he is being held on charges of treason, "civil rebellion" and illegal assembly.

At the same time, government authorities are searching for Carlos Ortega, head of Venezuela's largest labor federation who along with Fernandez was the most public figure behind the two-month strike that faded earlier this month. Ortega told Venezuelan media this morning that Fernandez's arrest was a "terrorist act" and that he would not turn himself him.

The arrests followed the discovery earlier this week of three dissident Venezuelan army soldiers and an opposition activist, whose bodies bore the signs of torture. International human rights groups said the killings appeared to be politically motivated and demanded an immediate investigation.

Fernandez's arrest came a day after government and opposition negotiators agreed to an eight-point declaration renouncing violence and inflammatory rhetoric as they seek a solution to the political crisis that has shaken the oil-rich nation for more than a year. The document was the first accord to emerge after three months of talks being mediated by Cesar Gaviria, the secretary of the Organization of American States.

But the government's apparent retaliation against opposition leaders has cast the agreement and the talks themselves into question. A person close to the negotiations said this morning, "The government thinks they have everything under control. Now they can go on the offensive. It's going to be very hard to keep people out of the streets, and the opposition may just step away from the table. Things could get very bad."

Indeed, thousands of anti-Chavez protesters took to the streets in response to Fernandez's arrest, many of them in front of the headquarters of Petroleos de Venezuela, the state oil company where many employees continue their walk-out against Chavez. Opposition leaders said the arrests were designed to undermine a successful petition drive that could set a referendum on Chavez's rule perhaps as early as this year.

"This arrest is an open provocation against the Venezuelan public," said Felipe Mujica, an opposition congressman with the Movement Toward Socialism party. "The government is trying to distract the public's attention from the process that is already underway to remove Chavez through an electoral solution. We want a peaceful solution. Nonetheless, we are going to mobilize the public against this act."

Chavez, a populist firebrand first elected in 1998 on a pledge to help Venezuela's poor, has survived two attempts to force him from office during the past year. An opposition movement comprising labor and business groups, leftist political parties and middle-class civilians has accused Chavez of trying to impose a Cuban-style dictatorship on Venezuela, packing the courts, the armed forces and the oil industry with allies on behalf of his "social revolution."

Chavez was briefly ousted last April when a white-collar walkout at Petroleos de Venezuela prompted a general strike, street violence and a short-lived military-led coup. The United States endorsed the interim government that replaced Chavez until its collapse.

The second attempt began Dec. 2 when the opposition began a general strike designed to force Chavez to resign or move up the 2006 presidential elections to this year. A former lieutenant colonel who led his own failed coup in 1992, Chavez survived the strike by creating a makeshift supply system that kept the country in food and gasoline at great expense to the public treasury. Six people died in violence associated with the protest.

The private sector, reeling after missing the vital Christmas season, lifted the strike Feb. 3. But workers at the state oil company, which supplies the government with almost half its budget and the United States with 15 percent of its oil imprints, remains on strike even though the government has production back up to more than half its pre-strike level of 3 million barrels a day.

Since then, Chavez has promised "an offensive" against his political opponents that has apparently begun with the arrest of Fernandez. In the weeks ahead, Chavez will also likely begin depriving opposition businesses of dollars and other foreign currency, as he has promised, under a new exchange mechanism that he adopted earlier this month to protect the fading Bolivar, as the national currency is known.

"We are extremely concerned by these retaliatory operations by the government against the leaders of the opposition," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, head of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch. "The risk here is that the government has decided to criminalize political expression and the actions of the opposition. That is obviously a violation of a fundamental freedom."

Opposition leaders met this morning to decide how to respond to the recent round of arrests. At least one of the charges against Fernandez -- "civil rebellion" -- does not appear in the criminal code, said opposition members who also complained that some of them were stoned by pro-Chavez mobs this morning as they gathered for a meeting.

The OAS talks are not scheduled to resume until Wednesday, giving both sides time to plan their next steps. Gaviria is out of the country at the moment, but his aides say he is talking with both sides in an effort to keep the talks alive.

Rafael Alfonzo, an opposition negotiator who represents Fedecamaras, the business federation that Fernandez heads, said this morning that "this [non-violence pact] was the first agreement we had at the table and this [Fernandez's arrest] is the first violation we have had."

"Obviously, we must do something about this," Alfonzo said. "Some [opposition] people complained when we signed the agreement, but we believed in it. Now we have this demonstration on the government's part that shows clearly that we do not have a democracy and freedom in this country."

santafenewmexican.com By JAMES ANDERSON | Associated Press 02/20/2003

CARACAS, Venezuela - Hundreds of people demonstrated Thursday against the arrest of a leader of Venezuela's general strike, who was snatched out of a restaurant by secret police and faces charges of treason and instigating violence. Protesters took to the streets of Caracas and other cities while motorists honked car horns following the arrest of Carlos Fernandez, president of Venezuela's largest federation, Fedecamaras, who faces charges for his role in the mass, anti-government protests that crippled the nation's economy. Opposition leaders on Thursday threatened to call another strike in response to arrest. Strike co-leader Carlos Ortega, of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation, was ordered to surrender, also on treason and instigating violence charges, said magistrate Maikel Jose Moreno. Ortega and Fernandez led the two-month strike that started Dec. 2, seeking to oust leftist President Hugo Chavez. The strike ended this month except in Venezuela's oil sector. Chavez on Thursday gloated over Fernandez's arrest, telling a trade forum that "I went to bed with a smile" Wednesday night when he learned of the magistrate's arrest order. "One of the coup plotters was arrested last night. It was about time, and see how the others are running to hide," Chavez said. Chavez accuses the two strike leaders of trying to topple his government. Ruling party lawmaker Tarek William Saab said Fernandez was accused of participating in a brief April coup against Chavez and of promoting a tax rebellion, a bank strike and the continuing oil strike. Ortega told Globovision television he wouldn't turn himself in. "We have nothing to fear," he said by telephone. "The only one who has a date with justice is the president." Eight armed men seized Fernandez at about midnight Wednesday as he was leaving a restaurant in Caracas' trendy Las Mercedes district, his bodyguard, Juan Carlos Fernandez, said. He said the men, who identified themselves as police agents, fired into the air when patrons tried to stop them from taking Fernandez away. Fernandez's wife, Sonia, spoke briefly with Fernandez by telephone and said that he was in good condition at secret police headquarters despite being hit during his arrest. Fernandez was meeting with his attorneys, she said. Ortega condemned the arrest as "a terrorist act" against Venezuela's opposition, already shaken by the slayings and possible torture of three dissident Venezuelan soldiers and an opposition activist. International human rights groups have demanded an investigation into the slayings of the four, whose bodies were found in the suburbs of Caracas with hands tied and faces wrapped with tape. Darwin Arguello, Angel Salas and Felix Pinto and opposition activist Zaida Peraza, 25, had multiple bullet wounds and showed signs of torture, Raul Yepez, deputy director of Venezuela's forensics police, said Wednesday. He said the four were abducted Saturday night. According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, a witness saw the victims being forced into two vehicles by men wearing ski masks, not far from a plaza that has become the opposition's central rallying point. "The circumstances strongly suggest that these were political killings," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. Yepez said police had "practically ruled out" political motives. There have been no arrests. Dissident soldiers supported the nationwide strike, which demanded Chavez's resignation and early elections. The strike was lifted Feb. 4 in all areas except the oil industry to protect businesses from bankruptcy. The vice president of Fedecamaras, Albis Munoz, warned of another nationwide strike. The workers confederation said a 12- or 24-hour stoppage was possible. "Definitely there will be actions, and very strong actions," Munoz said, adding that Fernandez was "practically kidnapped." Opposition leaders called for street protests and appealed to the Organization of American States, the United Nations and the Carter Center, run by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, which have brokered talks here. One opposition delegate to those talks, Rafael Alfonzo, said Fernandez's abduction made a mockery of a "peace pact" renouncing violence that government and opposition negotiators signed on Wednesday. "This government doesn't want to negotiate. It only wants conflict. We won't back down," Alfonzo said. OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria issued a statement urging Venezuela's judiciary to treat Fernandez's case in "strict compliance with the laws and rights guaranteed by the (Venezuelan) constitution." Chavez was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, vowing to wipe out the corruption of previous governments and redistribute Venezuela's vast oil wealth to the poor majority. His critics charge he has mismanaged the economy, tried to grab authoritarian powers and split the country along class lines. Having abandoned their strike, opponents are now petitioning for a constitutional amendment to cut Chavez's term in power from six to four years. They said Wednesday that more than 4.4 million Venezuelans had signed, well over the 15 percent of registered voters, or about 1.8 million, needed to force a referendum on early elections.