abcnews.go.com Feb. 20 — By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan police hauled away a business chief who led a strike against President Hugo Chavez after a judge ordered the arrest of prominent foes of the leftist leader, opposition leaders said on Thursday.

Shots rang out as protesters and private bodyguards faced off with the state security officers who grabbed Carlos Fernandez outside a Caracas steakhouse at midnight and bundled the white-haired strike leader 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 Chavez, detained for rebellion against the state, sabotage and other charges. Ortega told reporters he would go into hiding.

Opposition leaders, who accuse Chavez of wielding power like a dictator, called on supporters to take to the streets as motorists blocked highways in the capital, honking horns and flashing headlights to protest the Fernandez arrest.

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

The arrest rattled the opposition, already reeling from the killings of three dissident soldiers and an anti-Chavez protester whose bodies were discovered this week. Police say the deaths likely involved a personal grudge, but grieving relatives blamed political persecution.

Chavez hailed the arrest of Fernandez, a prominent private sector leader, as belated justice for "terrorists" in what his opponents feared was the start of a political witch hunt.

"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."

"YEAR OF THE OFFENSIVE"

Chavez, who survived a coup in April, has taken a tough stance against opponents since strike leaders called off their nationwide shutdown in early February, when it began to fizzle out. He has declared 2003 as the "year of the offensive."

The president, elected in 1998, has vowed to crack down on foes he says are trying to topple him by sabotaging the oil industry of the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter. Chavez has clamored for judges to jail strikers he calls coup mongers.

The opposition strike briefly crippled the oil exports and production as part of their campaign to push Chavez into resigning and accepting early elections.

But the Venezuelan leader, whose fiery speeches are often laced with threats and name-calling, has so far resisted calls for a vote. He accuses "rich elites" of trying to scuttle his leftist reforms to ease poverty.

As lawyers worked on freeing Fernandez, police investigators scoured for clues on the confusing quadruple homicide of the three rebel soldiers and a female anti-government protester.

About a dozen unidentified gunmen kidnapped the four victims on Saturday night as they left a protest. They were bound, gagged, and some were tortured before they were killed, the police said.

The case has fueled opposition fears that Chavez may be leading Venezuela toward armed struggle by encouraging supporters to silence dissent, more than 10 months after he narrowly survived the coup led by rebel officers.

Using troops and replacement workers, Chavez has battled to overcome the impact of strike and restore oil exports that provide half of state revenues. He has fired more than 12,000 oil workers, accusing them of trying to destroy the refineries of state oil firm PDVSA.

Dissident oil workers rallied on Thursday outside PDVSA facilities across the nation to protest the government's restructuring. They have vowed to protest until Chavez resigns and reinstates fired employees.

"We will be in the streets permanently. This government wants to return us to the Middle Ages," said strike leader Juan Fernandez. "They are not the present or future of Venezuela."

news.ft.com By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas Published: February 20 2003 19:01 | Last Updated: February 20 2003 19:01

Venezuela's government stepped up what appeared to be a retaliatory crackdown on opponents of President Hugo Chávez on Thursday with the arrest of the business leader who led a two-month strike aimed at forcing the president's resignation.

Carlos Fernández, head of the Fedecamaras business federation, was captured by a group of heavily armed men outside a restaurant, witnesses said, and taken to the headquarters of the Disip political police in Caracas.

A judge said a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Mr Fernández on charges of "treason" and "civil rebellion". A similar warrant was also issued for Carlos Ortega, leader of the main labour union, which backed the strike in December and January.

Opposition leaders condemned the detention as evidence that Mr Chávez was drifting towards "dictatorship" and embarking on a "campaign of intimidation". Government legislators said the arrest followed correct legal procedures.

Mr Chávez, emboldened by his survival after the stoppage, has promised to jail the strike's organisers for "sabotaging" the economy and has warned that exchange controls will be used to deprive opposition-aligned businesses of foreign currency.

The strike at Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), which is producing only about half of the 3m barrels a day from before the strike, has left what was the world's fifth-largest oil-exporting economy facing a contraction of at least 15 per cent this year.

Rafael Alfonzo, an opposition negotiator in talks intended to defuse Venezuela's political deadlock, said Mr Fernández's arrest undermined an anti-violence pact signed only two days ago with the government.

The agreement was the first breakthrough in three months of negotiations backed by the Organisation of American States aimed at finding an electoral solution to the tensions between Mr Chávez and opposition groups.

Mr Fernández's arrest comes a day after Washington-based Human Rights Watch urged the Venezuelan government to investigate the murder of four opposition supporters this week.

The bodies of three junior military staff and a civilian woman who had joined dissident officers pressing for Mr Chávez's resignation were found dumped on a roadside outside Caracas.

"The circumstances strongly suggest that these were political killings," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch.

news.ft.com By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas Published: February 20 2003 19:01 | Last Updated: February 20 2003 19:01

Venezuelan government and opposition representatives on Tuesday signed a pact condemning political violence - the first breakthrough in three months of internationally backed talks aimed at finding an electoral solution to the country's political deadlock.

The agreement, brokered by César Gaviria, secretary-general of the Organisation of American States (OAS), should ease tensions between the government of President Hugo Chávez and the alliance of opposition interest groups ranged against him, analysts said.

Venezuela has been marked by rising levels of street violence, including several deaths in recent months, as timid efforts at dialogue collapsed between Mr Chávez and his foes in the wake of last April's coup attempt prompting the involvement of the OAS.

Opponents say Mr Chávez, although democratically elected four years ago, is bent on abolishing democracy in favour of an autocratic leftist government modelled on that of Cuba's Fidel Castro.

In turn, the populist Mr Chávez, who led a failed military coup in 1992, brands the opponents of his self-styled "Bolivarian revolution" as "coup-plotters".

Among his opponents are more than 12,000 workers who have been fired from Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state oil company, following an ongoing strike that began in December and has slashed output in what was the world's fifth-largest oil producer with crippling results for the economy.

Analysts said the non-violence agreement suggested some kind of election could be in the offing in the months ahead. "The pact demonstrates that it is possible to reach agreements, and if that is possible, then anything is," said Alfredo Keller, a political consultant.

"However, the impression I have is that Chávez is not interested in an election in which he participates. He is not going to permit that the only visible head of the 'revolution' runs the risk of an electoral defeat," said Mr Keller.

Mr Chávez has in the past two weeks stepped up measures apparently aimed at shoring up his base support among the poor, a move designed to prepare for polls in which regional governors and mayors participate.

But, within the opposition camp, hopes of an early ballot, this year are being pinned on a presidential election with conspicuous signs that Manuel Cova, secretary-general of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation, is being groomed by some groups as a potential single candidate.

www.latintrade.com 02/20/2003 - Source: Latin American Newsletters

The Venezuelan authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the trade union leader Carlos Ortega, who helped lead a nine-week business strike against the government. The move follows the arrest of Venezuela's top business leader Carlos Fernández in the early hours of this morning.

Both men have been accused of 'civil rebellion, treason, incitement to crime, conspiracy and devastation', in a court summons issued at the request of the public prosecutor yesterday.

Carlos Fernández, the president of the business federation, Fedecámaras, was arrested by the intelligence services (Disip) leaving a restaurant in Caracas last night. He is being held in the police headquarters and has been seen by lawyers and his wife, who says he is physically well. Under Venezuelan law, he must appear in court within 48 hours.

Ortega, the president of Colombia's largest trade union confederation, the CTV, declared today that he would not hand himself in to the authorities, but would instead go into hiding. Ortega told 'Unión Radio' that the opposition would call an urgent meeting to discuss how to respond to 'this terrorist escalation by the government'. He said the opposition would call street demonstrations and appeal to the international community.

www.voanews.com Phil Gunson Caracas 20 Feb 2003, 16:26 UTC

Listen to Phil Gunson's report (RealAudio)   Gunson report - Download 224k (RealAudio)  

Venezuelan opposition leader Carlos Fernandez has been detained by armed men believed to be secret police. Opposition leaders called for protests in support of Mr. Fernandez, one of the organizers of a two-month anti-government strike. Mr. Fernandez is charged with treason and criminal conspiracy.

Carlos Fernandez, president of Venezuela's main business organization, Fedecamaras, was one of three main leaders of the two-month-long strike against the government of President Hugo Chavez.

Mr. Chavez has accused the leaders of the strike - which remains in effect in the economically crucial oil industry - of sabotage and of seeking to overthrow his government by force.

AP Opposition members waving national flags yell "Freedom for Carlos Fernandez" while blocking a street in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2003During his regular Sunday morning television and radio program this week, the president exhorted judges and public prosecutors to take action against the organizers of the work stoppage.

Two other strike leaders, Carlos Ortega of the main trade union confederation, the CTV, and former oil industry executive Juan Fernandez, have been warned to turn themselves in, or face arrest in similar circumstances.

Although government officials were slow to comment, the judge who claims to have issued the arrest warrant for Carlos Fernandez listed a series of charges against him. These include treason, rebellion and criminal conspiracy.

According to spokesmen for Fedecamaras, the armed men who detained the business leader presented neither identification nor an arrest warrant. They fired into the air to disperse a small crowd, before taking Mr. Fernandez away.

Leaders of the opposition umbrella group, the Democratic Coordinator, were quick to condemn the reported arrest as arbitrary and illegal.

The seizure of Carlos Fernandez comes just days after the torture and murder of three soldiers and a young woman involved in a four-month-old anti-government protest by military officers in a Caracas square. The circumstances of those murders have yet to be clarified.

The Washington-based organization, Human Rights Watch, has called on the government to carry out a full and impartial investigation of the murders, and to protect a teenage witness who was also seriously injured.