www.news24.com 20/02/2003 18:05  - (SA)  

Caracas - Police have arrested business leader Carlos Fernandez, a top organiser of a 63-day strike to force President Hugo Chavez out of office, Venezuelan television reported early on Thursday.

Fernandez, from the Fedecamaras free trade body, was arrested as he was leaving a restaurant in the trendy commercial district of Las Mercedes, restaurant employees told Globovision television.

Police officers fired several shots, but the employees said no-one was injured during the arrest.

The Political Police (Disip) did not confirm Fernandez' arrest either publicly or to the Democratic Coordinator grouping political parties and civil rights groups opposed to the Chavez administration.

Fernandez and Venezuelan Workers' Confederation president Carlos Ortega were the two top leaders of a 63-day general strike by business and union groups against Chavez that ended February 2.

The strike reduced Venezuela's crude oil exports to a 150 000-barrel-per-day (bpd) trickle. Production now has increased to two million bpd - still well below its normal, pre-strike output of 2.8 million bpd.

Chavez and opposition forces on Tuesday signed a non-violence pact, under the mediation of Organization of American States Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria.

More of a confidence-building measure than a political deal, the pact calls for "a climate of peace and calm in the country," and for the legislature to form a "Peace Commission" to investigate 70 deaths during a failed April coup against Chavez.

Ortega told Globovision that Fernandez' arrest was part of the government's "terror" tactics against leading opposition members.

"We can't rule anything out," he added. "At the moment, our physical wellbeing and our families are in jeopardy."

Ortega said soon there would be "calls for street action both in the capital and the interior of the country".

Social democratic leader Timoteo Zambrano, who takes part in OAS-mediated talks with the Chavez administration to resolve the political crisis, said Fernadez' arrest "escalates the conflict further", and called on the international community to "intervene ugently".

Juan Fernandez, who leads a group of sacked employees of the state oil giant PDVSA, said the arrest showed the "desperation" of the government and called for popular action to demand Fernandez's release.

With no official word on the arrest, rumours were flying that Fernandez was on a government arrest list of 25 opposition leaders, or that he was kidnapped by either the secret police or pro-Chavez militants.

Weeks ago, Fernandez testified before the attorney-general's office in an investigation into the April 12 attempted coup that removed Chavez from office for 47 hours.

Pedro Carmona, Fernandez's boss in Fedecamaras at the time of the coup, took over the presidency during Chavez's arrest. - Sapa-AFP

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.20.03, 9:38 AM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Rebel Venezuelan oil workers said they will stage protests Thursday outside offices and installations of state-oil firm PDVSA, following the overnight arrest of a strike leader on rebellion charges. The dissident oil workers -- 12,000 of whom have been fired by President Hugo Chavez -- were not planning to take over installations or occupy PDVSA offices, organizers said. The workers pegged output at 1.4 million barrels per day, compared with 3.1 million barrels before they launched a crippling strike on Dec. 2 meant to force Chavez from power. The government says output stands at more than 2 million bpd. Before the strike, Venezuela was the world's fifth largest oil exporter. The previously scheduled protest was expected to take on added momentum following the shock arrest of business chief and opposition leader Carlos Fernandez. Heavily armed police grabbed him at a restaurant in Caracas before bundling him into a car. Union chief Carlos Ortega, who spearheaded the two-month opposition strike started in December to try and oust Chavez, also faces a fresh arrest warrant for civilian rebellion, sabotage and other charges. Ortega has not been arrested. PDVSA officials at the port of Jose said Exxon Mobil Corp. > have begun loading cargo of Cerro Negro synthetic crude, marking the first crude loading by a foreign oil major since the early days of the strike. "We are loading the ship," said loading manager Rubin Rodriguez. He added that the port was secure with the national guard in place and he expected no trouble from strikers.

abc.net.au Friday, February  21, 2003. Posted: 00:22:54 (AEDT)

Reports from Venezuela say one of the leading organisers of the protests against President Hugo Chavez has been arrested. A director of the main business association says Carlos Fernandez had been detained by armed police in the capital Caracas. Mr Fernandez was one of the leaders of a 63-day general strike that ended on February 2 by business and union groups against the President. The news came after the New York-based group Human Rights Watch called on the Venezuelan authorities to investigate the killing of three soldiers who had called for civil disobedience against Mr Chavez.

www.austin360.com By JAMES ANDERSON Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)--A leader of Venezuela's general strike was snatched out of a restaurant by secret police and faces charges of treason and instigating violence for his role in mass, anti-government protests that crippled the nation's economy.

On Thursday, the morning after the midnight arrest of Carlos Fernandez, opposition leaders threatened to call a new strike in response.

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, president of Venezuela's largest business federation, Fedecamaras, 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 accuses the two strike leaders of trying to topple his government.

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, told Globovision TV.

He said the men, who identified themselves as police agents, fired into the air when patrons tried to stop them from taking Fernandez away.

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 or call for early elections. The strike was lifted Feb. 4 in all areas except the oil industry to protect businesses from bankruptcy.

The vice president of the Fedecamaras business association, Albis Munoz, warned of another nationwide strike. She said Fernandez was seized without a court order and was being held at secret police headquarters.

Definitely there will be actions, and very strong actions,'' Munoz said, adding that Fernandez was practically kidnapped.''

``There has been no way of communicating with him,'' she said.

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

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.

abcnews.go.com

— CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Armed men, apparently from the Venezuela state security police, on Thursday captured a business chief who led a strike against President Hugo Chavez after a judge ordered him and a union boss arrested for rebellion, opposition leaders said.

Eight heavily armed men grabbed Carlos Fernandez at a restaurant in eastern Caracas early and fired shots in the air to keep back protesters before bundling him into a car, witnesses and opposition representatives said.

Foes of Chavez quickly condemned the order to detain Fernandez, the head of the Fedecamaras business chamber, as intimidation by the leftist leader they accuse of wielding power like a dictator.

"This is one more demonstration of intimidation," said opposition negotiator Rafael Alfonzo. "This is completely outside of the law," he said.

A judge told state television that Fernandez and union chief Carlos Ortega, who spearheaded the two-month opposition strike started in December to try and oust Chavez, were ordered detained for civilian rebellion, sabotage and other charges.

An official from the security police could not immediately confirm that officers from the agency were involved in the incident.

Chavez, who was first elected in 1998 and who survived a coup in April, has taken a hard-line stance against his opponents since strike leaders lifted the shutdown in early February to ease the burden on the private sector.

Branding his enemies "terrorists" and "coup plotters," Chavez has vowed to crack down on foes he accuses of trying to topple him by sabotaging the nation's vital oil industry. He has also introduced tight currency curbs and price controls to shore up the weakened economy.

The strike briefly crippled the oil industry of the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter as part of the opposition campaign to push Chavez into resigning and accepting early elections.

But the combative Venezuelan leader has so far rejected calls for a vote. Using troops and replacement crews, Chavez has fought back against the strikers as he battles to restart the oil exports that provide half of state revenues.

Three months of negotiations between the two sides have made little progress toward hammering out an agreement on elections. But earlier this week government and opposition negotiators signed a nonviolence pact to ease tensions.