BBC World Service Last Updated:  Saturday, 12 April, 2003, 21:33 GMT 22:33 UK

Police in Venezuela say a bomb has exploded in the capital, Caracas, in the building where an agreement was reached hours earlier about a referendum on the mandate of President Hugo Chavez.

A police spokesman, Carlos Medina, said no-one was injured in the blast, which damaged the facade of the Caracas Teleport tower.

Following the discussions with the government, opposition leaders they would accept that a referendum on Mr Chavez's presidency would be delayed until halfway through his mandate, in August.

At the beginning of the year, the opposition organised a two-month long general strike which failed to force Mr Chavez from power.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

Posted on Sat, Apr. 12, 2003 STEPHEN IXER sunheral.com-Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - A pre-dawn bomb blast ripped through the building where Venezuela's government and opposition have been negotiating a peace agreement, destroying three floors but injuring no one.

The attack at about 2:45 a.m. Saturday came one day after the Organization of American States brokered a deal between the government and opposition to work toward a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule.

Federal police chief Carlos Medina said the attack may have been politically motivated. An opposition negotiator said the blast was intended to intimidate his delegation at the talks, while the government blamed "coup-plotting" sectors of the opposition.

The explosion destroyed the first three floors of the Teleport building in central Caracas, shattering windows, destroying the entrance and twisting steel gates. Elevator cables hung from the facade and broken glass, roof tiles and light fixtures littered the ground.

A night watchman and a technician, the only two people inside the building when the blast hit, were unharmed, said Caracas fire chief Rodolfo Briceno.

Firefighters evacuated 40 people from a neighboring building.

"It was felt in various zones of Caracas," Briceno said. "There was a lot of panic."

Medina said the perpetrators may have been the same ones behind bombs that destroyed the Spanish embassy and the Colombian consulate in February. Investigators have suspects in the embassy explosions, Medina said, though he declined to give names.

"Judging from the type of damage, it may have been the same group," Medina said.

He added that Saturday's blast was an expert job, and the explosive appeared to have been homemade.

Rafael Alfonzo, an opposition negotiator, said the attack was an attempt to intimidate his delegation at the peace talks.

"This permanent intimidation ... is very worrying," Alfonzo said. "Every time we get an advance, every time there is the possibility of establishing the foundations for a recall referendum, then something like this happens."

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, a member of the government's negotiating team, condemned the bombing. "I don't want to point the finger at anyone, but there are reasons to think that coup-plotting sectors of the opposition were behind these actions," Rangel said.

Venezuela has been steeped in months of upheaval over Chavez's leftist rule. His opponents launched a two-month strike in December to force his resignation or early elections. They succeeded only in crippling oil production and devastating the economy.

After five months of OAS-brokered talks, the government and opposition agreed to work toward a referendum to ask Venezuelans whether Chavez should step down. Such a vote is legally permitted after the president has served half of his term - August, in Chavez's case.

Serious disagreements over the referendum persist. Chavez says that more than 2.5 million signatures gathered by the opposition to petition for the vote are invalid. He argues the constitution doesn't allow citizens to begin collecting signatures until August. Foes insist they can be gathered at anytime.

New election authorities currently being set up by the National Assembly must decide the issue and verify the signatures before the referendum can be held.

Chavez is also insisting on the right to run in new elections if he loses the referendum. Opposition leaders are against the idea. Polls indicate 60 percent of Venezuelans would vote against the president in a referendum. But polls suggest Chavez could win elections against a divided opposition lacking in visible leadership.

Truth News-Voice of America, April 12, 2003

A powerful explosion in Venezuela's capital has damaged the building hosting key negotiations between government and opposition leaders.

Authorities said Saturday, the high intensity explosion occurred before dawn at the Caracas Teleport office building. No one was injured in the blast, which shattered windows and destroyed a conference area in the building's basement.

Two men were in the building at the time of the blast. A watchman escaped injury because he was sleeping under a desk, and a technician was several floors above the explosion.

Authorities suspect the explosion is linked to similar blasts at the Spanish Embassy and the Colombian Consulate in February. The bombing comes one day after government and opposition representatives met with negotiators from the Organization of American states. The two sides agreed Friday to work toward a referendum to support or reject the presidency of Hugo Chavez.

Mr. Chavez's opponents say he has destroyed the country's economy, and have been calling for him to resign. Friday also marked the one-year anniversary of a massive protest outside the presidential palace in Caracas which left 19 people dead.

Article Published: Thursday, April 03, 2003 - 8:25:59 PM PST The Daily Bulletin By WILL MATTHEWS STAFF WRITER

RIVERSIDE — A Riverside man who was arrested last year at Ontario International Airport for allegedly making remarks about a bomb was arrested Wednesday by the FBI after driving his car through a military barricade at March Air Reserve Base.

Eid Elwirelwir, 26, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Venezuela, drove through a coiled-wire barricade designed to restrict traffic from a road leading to a closed, gated entrance to the base, authorities say.

Elwirelwir then proceeded to crash into a locked chain link fence blocking entrance to the base.

Elwirelwir was not injured and was initially taken into custody by Marine Corps sentries guarding the gate.

According to an FBI criminal complaint, Elwirelwir expressed numerous anti-American sentiments and said he believed he had been oppressed by America because he was Muslim.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley said Thursday that Elwirelwir was picked up at his home Wednesday by members of the FBI's joint terrorism task force and charged with destruction of government property.

In February 2002, Elwirelwir was arrested at ONT after security screeners there said he mentioned a bomb in his shoe.

He was arrested by airport police for making a false bomb threat at a screening checkpoint.

Elwirelwir became irate after being arrested and told police he had simply asked screeners whether they thought he had a bomb in his shoe.

Michael Martinez, a deputy district attorney in San Bernardino County, said Thursday that after reviewing the case he declined to press charges against Elwirelwir, believing it to fall more within federal jurisdiction than local jurisdiction.

Martinez said he passed the case on to the U.S. Attorney's Office in both Los Angeles and Riverside after discussing it with officials there and with the FBI.

U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Thom Mrozek said Thursday that no charges were filed by his office against Elwirelwir in relation to the ONT incident.

He declined to say why no charges were filed.

Bosley said Thursday she was not aware of any previous incident involving Elwirelwir, and said no federal charges had ever been pressed against him.

She said the FBI was not investigating this week's incident in Riverside as terrorist-related.

"He certainly made some anti-American statements, but he has the right to do that," Bosley said. "There is a pending investigation and anything is possible, but at this point there is just the one charge."

Will Matthews can be reached by e-mail w_matthews@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9333.

Posted on Fri, Apr. 04, 2003 ALEXANDRA OLSON Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela - The slide showing people jumping to their deaths from a World Trade Center tower on Sept. 11, 2001, drew gasps from the audience at the Museum of Science in Caracas.

"Hundreds of people in the top floors had a tough decision to make," retired New York firefighter Dan Daly said Thursday as he narrated the slide show. "And many people chose to jump instead of burn to death."

The world is unlikely to forget such images. But Daly, who was captain of Engine 54 on Sept. 11 and retired in November, wants to make sure people don't forget something else: the way America came together in the aftermath of the 2001 terror attacks.

In tours sponsored by the U.S. State Department, the 54-year-old firefighter has spent the last year speaking to school children, rescue workers and government officials in Chile, Brazil, Paraguay and Nicaragua.

Thursday's presentation was his last during a seven-day visit to Venezuela. He also addressed students in Caracas and two other cities.

"After Sept. 11, I was so angry I felt like picking up a gun," he said. "Instead, I picked up a microphone. It's part of my healing process."

Daly told of looking up one day "on top of that horrible pile" and feeling uplifted by the dozens of volunteers from across the world working by his side.

He remembers the night 200 New Yorkers held a candlelight vigil and sang "God Bless America" outside his firehouse. He recalls one firefighter who rushed to the scene despite being on sick leave. He left a note at a firehouse: "I'm going into the towers to see if I can help. If I do not return, please tell my wife and children I love them very much." He didn't make it back.

A college girl came by with drinks one day. Priests and chiropractors set up tables. At first firefighters wrinkled their noses at the chiropractors "but after the second or third week the tables were always full," Daly said to chuckles from the audience.

"The good deeds were too many to count," Daly said, wearing his black dress uniform. "To me, the legacy of Sept. 11 is people coming together. I hope people realize the power we have when it comes to compassion and teamwork."

There were also tragic stories. Daly paused at photograph of firefighters whisking away the body of New York Fire Department chaplain Michael Judge.

"He would always be there on the front line while we were putting out fires. So it was that he lost his life on Sept. 11," he said.

He stops at another photograph of a line of firefighters carefully picking through rubble. He remembers being in one of those lines one day and asking the firefighter next to him if he knew anyone who was missing. "Yes, my brother. I'm digging for my brother," was the reply.

Daly doesn't mention the Iraq war during his presentations, but audiences frequently bring it up, he said.

"There have been some tough questions from the young children," he said before the slide show. "They want to know how the United States can talk about peace and attack Iraq."

Daly supports the war and tells listeners why.

"I'm a New York firefighter who spent a lot of time digging up body parts at Ground Zero," he said. "I've seen what terrorism can do to people. These are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary means."

But Iraq didn't come up during Thursday's talk. The presentation had the effect Daly wanted.

"It inspired me to continue doing what I'm doing," said Dixon Linch, a 25-year-old firefighter in the audience. "To know that more than 300 of our colleagues died - It's an indescribable feeling."