www.kansascity.com Posted on Tue, Feb. 25, 2003 JAMES ANDERSON Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - Powerful explosions just minutes apart devastated the Spanish and Colombian diplomatic missions Tuesday, injuring four people and raising fears that Colombian-style terror has reached next-door Venezuela.

The attacks in Caracas came two days after President Hugo Chavez denounced Colombia and Spain, among other nations, for allegedly interfering in Venezuelan affairs. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Leaflets supporting Chavez's "Bolivarian Revolution," a political movement loosely based on the writings of 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar, were found outside both missions. But Chavez's government dismissed the papers as a "ridiculous" plant and said no one should jump to conclusions.

"We will find those responsible for this crime," vowed Deputy Foreign Minister Arevalo Mendez.

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel repudiated the attacks as "a form of terrorism never seen in Venezuela," and suggested Chavez opponents may have been involved.

He said an anti-terrorism task force would be created and offered condolences to the Colombian and Spanish people.

The explosions - at 2 a.m. at the Spanish Embassy and 2:15 a.m. at the Colombian consulate - smashed storefront and apartment windows and left the buildings' facades in shambles. Shattered glass covered streets and steel gates were twisted by the force of the blasts.

The blasts slightly injured four people, including a night watchman. Security was bolstered at other diplomatic missions in the capital.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip T. Reeker condemned the bombings, saying they underscored the need for all sides to honor a Feb. 18 nonviolence pledge, refrain from "confrontational rhetoric" and create a truth commission to investigate violent incidents.

"We note that those bombs follow some sharp verbal attacks by President Chavez on the international community, as well as individual Venezuelans and institutions," Reeker said.

Colombia condemned the "act of savage terrorism." It used the incident to urge Venezuela to increase cooperation in fighting leftist Colombian rebels.

"This attack proves the need for a joint fight against terrorism and drug trafficking," Colombia's presidency said in a statement. It warned Colombia's decades-old conflict could easily consume Venezuela.

Colombia insisted that members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and National Liberation Army, or ELN, are in Venezuela. But it stopped short of blaming Colombian insurgents for the attacks.

Spanish Ambassador Manuel Viturro de la Torre refused to speculate on who was responsible for the blasts and insisted his nation's ties to Venezuela were "excellent."

Colombian Interior Minister Fernando Londono accused Venezuela last week of refusing to condemn the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and National Liberation Army as terrorists for a series of deadly bombings.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe disavowed Londono's remarks, saying he alone spoke for Colombia. But Uribe and Spain's government urged Chavez to respect the rule of law after a Venezuelan opposition leader was arrested last week.

Carlos Fernandez, head of Venezuela's biggest business chamber, faces rebellion and other charges for leading a 63-day general strike against Chavez. Police are searching for strike co-leader and labor boss Carlos Ortega.

Chavez accuses both of sabotaging the key oil sector, inciting lawlessness and inflicting continuing suffering on Venezuelans.

The two-month strike, which ended Feb. 4, hobbled the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporting industry. It robbed the feeble economy of billions of dollars and turned a nation that sits atop the hemisphere's largest oil reserves into a gasoline importer.

Chavez told Spain and Colombia on Sunday not to "mess" with Venezuela. He also criticized the United States - Venezuela's biggest oil customer - for voicing concern about Fernandez's arrest.

Chavez notes few objected when dozens of government officials - including Chavez himself - were hunted down and lawlessly jailed during a brief April coup.

But Spain, the United States and other nations supporting peace talks here have watched with alarm as Chavez cracks down on his opponents.

A temporary ban on buying U.S. dollars - imposed to stop capital flight - is strangling industry and an import-dependent news media. Chavez has threatened to close the four major television stations for supporting the strike. His government seized weapons from Caracas' metropolitan police force, whose officers have been ambushed by pro-Chavez gunmen.

Critics accuse Chavez of inciting violence. The president accuses critics of seeking another coup against his democratically-elected government.

Chavez is a former army paratrooper who led a failed coup attempt in 1992. He was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000.

reuters.com Tue February 25, 2003 03:41 AM ET By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Explosions hit a Spanish Embassy building and the Colombian consulate in the Venezuelan capital Caracas early on Tuesday, buckling their metal gates and shattering windows in neighboring buildings, officials and witnesses said.

A guard was slightly injured at the Colombian consulate building, police said. There were no immediate reports of other casualties.

The explosions came just a day after President Hugo Chavez, whose self-styled "Bolivarian Revolution" aims to help the poor, accused the United States and Spain of siding with his enemies and warned Colombia he might break off diplomatic relations.

A Reuters reporter heard a loud explosion at a cooperation suboffice of the Spanish embassy in the east of the capital. The gate of the building had been blown off by the blast; across the street, windows of another building were smashed.

"It punched a hole in the wall surrounding the building," the reporter said.

Police and fire officials said there had also been an explosion outside the Colombian consulate building not far from the Spanish embassy site. The glass walls of the Colombian building were also shattered.

Officials could not immediately say what had caused the explosions. Leaflets scattered at the site of the Spanish embassy explosion referred to the "Bolivarian Liberation Front," a previously unheard of group.

Venezuela's political struggle between Chavez and his opponents often flares into violence and street clashes and media outlets critical of Chavez have been previously targeted by grenade attacks.

INTERNATIONAL CONCERN OVER ARREST

The Venezuelan leader's criticisms followed a flurry of international concern over the arrest of Carlos Fernandez, a prominent opposition businessman who was charged with rebellion for leading a two-month strike to pressure Chavez into accepting elections.

Chavez and his foes have been locked in a fierce deadlock over his rule since April when he survived a short-lived coup by rebel military officers. The president has recently hardened his stance against critics he brands "terrorists" trying to topple him.

The opposition strike severely disrupted the vital oil exports and production that account for half of Venezuelan government revenues and battered its teetering economy.

But Chavez has so far resisted calls for elections from opponents who accuse him of ruling like a dictator and inspiring supporters to violence with his fiery speeches laced with threats and class warfare rhetoric.

Venezuela's crisis has drawn in the international community with leaders who fear the world's fifth largest supplier of oil could slide into civil war as Chavez allies and enemies battle over his government.

The U.S., Spain and four other countries have backed efforts by the Organization of American States to broker a deal on elections to defuse the crisis. But the talks have been mired in wrangling and Chavez on Sunday appeared to push away members of the six-nation group.

A grenade exploded in January at the Venezuelan residence of the ambassador from Algeria, which had offered to assist Chavez in his efforts to offset the impact of the strike.

That explosion followed bomb threats made against several foreign embassies in Caracas. The German, Canadian and Australian embassies were evacuated after receiving calls made in the name of a group claiming to be the Patriotic Committee for Venezuela.

www.cnn.com Tuesday, February 25, 2003 Posted: 10:11 AM EST (1511 GMT)

Bomb squadron officers carry a tool box outside Colombia's consulate, which was damaged by an explosion Tuesday in Caracas.

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN) -- Powerful explosions only minutes apart early Tuesday badly damaged the Spanish Embassy and the Colombian consulate in Caracas, officials said, injuring four people.

Leopoldo Lopez, mayor of the district of Chacao in Caracas where the embassy is located, told local media there had been attacks at both locations, injuring a guard at the embassy.

The first blast occurred at 2:10 a.m. (1:10 a.m. ET) at the Spanish Embassy -- located in the La Castellana neighborhood -- badly damaging the main entrance to the property, plus shattering glass and shearing the balconies off adjacent buildings.

A second blast at 2:25 a.m. (2:25 a.m. ET) devastated the Colombian consulate in the Chacaito neighborhood and heavily damaged a two-story building across the street.

A consulate guard was injured in the blast, along with two others.

The explosions came about 24 hours after President Hugo Chavez, on his weekly radio and TV show called "Hello President," warned the world to stop meddling in the affairs of his troubled South American nation.

Last week, Venezuelan police locked up a popular strike leader on "civil rebellion" charges.

During the broadcast, Chavez accused the United States and Spain of siding with his enemies, warned Colombia he might break off diplomatic relations, and reprimanded the chief mediator in peace talks for stepping "out of line."

The U.S. State Department warned that the Venezuelan president's words could incite violence.

"Inflammatory statements such as those attributed to President Chavez are not helpful in advancing the dialogue between the government of Venezuela and the opposition," Philip Reeker, a State Department spokesman, said ahead of the Tuesday attacks.

He also said that "they are concerned that heightened political rhetoric has contributed unnecessarily to some of the recent violence in Caracas."

-- Journalist Adrian Criscaut contributed to this report.

asia.reuters.com Tue February 25, 2003 02:09 AM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela, (Reuters) - Explosions hit a Spanish Embassy building and a Colombian consulate building in the Venezuelan capital Caracas early on Tuesday, police and witnesses said.

A Reuters reporter heard an explosion at a technical suboffice of the Spanish embassy in the east of the capital. The gate of the building had been buckled by the blast; across the street, windows of another building were blown in, the reporter said.

"It punched a hole in the wall surrounding the building," he said.

Police and fire officials at the scene said there had also been an explosion at a Colombian consulate building in another part of the capital.

There were no immediate reports of injuries and it was not clear what had caused the explosions.

www.washingtonpost.com Tuesday, February 25, 2003; Page A04

The threat of a terrorist attack against the United States remains high, and there are no plans to downgrade the nation's terror alert, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said yesterday.

U.S. intelligence gathering continues to show enough of a threat to warrant keeping the alert level at "high risk," the second-highest level on a five-color scale, Ashcroft said.

The level was raised to orange Feb. 7, prompting the government to impose extra security measures and causing jitters throughout the country.

"The constant and continuous evaluation of the factors that go into the development of threat level have not changed in a way significant enough for the threat level to be changed," Ashcroft said.

Other Bush administration officials, notably Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, have indicated the level could soon be reduced to "elevated," the middle of the color scale.

The attorney general said the possibility of a U.S.-led war with Iraq was a less important factor in assessing the risk of terrorism against the United States. He pointed out that the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, were not provoked by any international crisis. Senate Aims to Curtail Child Pornography

The Senate moved to crack down on child pornography with a bill drawn to strengthen bans on using minors in obscene material while dealing with the Supreme Court's constitutional problems with an earlier version.

The bill, passed without dissent, was in response to a court ruling last April that struck down a 1996 law that specifically prohibited virtual child pornography. The court said banning images that only appear to depict real children engaged in sex was unconstitutionally vague and far-reaching.

The Senate bill prohibits the pandering or solicitation of anything represented to be obscene child pornography. Responding to the court ruling, it requires the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person intended others to believe the material was obscene child pornography.

The bill, which still requires House action, also plugs a loophole in which pornographers could avoid prosecution by saying that their sexually explicit material was computer-generated and involved no real children. Under an affirmative defense provision, the defendant would be required to prove that real children were not a part of the production.

The United States accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his government of using inflammatory rhetoric, possibly contributing to violence between opponents and supporters of the populist leader.

"Inflammatory statements such as those attributed to President Chavez are not helpful in advancing the dialogue between the government of Venezuela and the opposition," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.

On Sunday, Chavez warned the world to stop meddling in the affairs of his troubled South American nation, and Venezuelan police locked up a strike leader on "civil rebellion" charges. He accused the United States and Spain of siding with his enemies, warned Colombia he might break off diplomatic relations and reprimanded the chief mediator in peace talks for stepping "out of line."

Last week he said he was going on the offensive against the "terrorists" and "fascists" who have defied him. For the Record

• The State Department warned Americans not to go to Colombia, where guerrillas abducted three Defense Department contractors last week. State said U.S. citizens were in danger of kidnapping, plane hijackings and murder. The threat to Americans could increase in response to U.S. support for the Colombian government's drug eradication programs, it added.

• Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) urged the Bush administration to investigate whether consumers are being gouged at the gasoline pump and also to be ready to counter a disruption in crude oil supplies if war breaks out in Iraq. Oil prices have topped $36 a barrel on market fears of a U.S.-led attack on Iraq, which in turn have helped propel retail gasoline prices to more than $2 a gallon in some cities. Oil companies have denied wrongdoing and said gasoline prices reflect market conditions, including fears of war in Iraq, low oil inventories and strong consumer demand for petroleum products.