Attacks rise as Venezuelan term-limit vote looms

[Bacchus39]

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/821327.html

Attacks rise as Venezuelan term-limit vote looms
Supporters of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez are increasingly attacking opposition figures in the run-up to a vote on unlimited reelection.
BY CASTO OCANDO
El Nuevo Herald
President Hugo Chávez's backers have launched a string of attacks, shootings, explosions and office thrashings in an apparent attempt to intimidate opponents as Venezuela approaches a vote on unlimited presidential reelections, opposition leader say.

''It is an aggressive reaction that is becoming worse,'' said Americo Martin, political analyst and opposition leader. ``They are attacks inspired by a fascist model, similar to the rapid-response teams and acts of repudiation in Cuba.''

One of the cases involved the former gubernatorial candidate in the state of Guarico, Lenny Manuitt, an opposition leader who was hospitalized after two policemen beat her Dec. 12. ''The intention was not theft. The intention was to scare,'' Manuitt said.

The secretary of Guarico's state government, Gen. Roger Cordero, said he had ordered an investigation. But he denied the attack was part of a political persecution. ''We do not attack nor pursue anyone. This is a matter of public safety and we are dealing with it as such,'' he said.

TEAR GAS

Early this month, militants from the radical pro-Chávez group known as Tupamaros threw tear gas canisters at the inauguration of Lester Rodríguez as the mayor of Mérida while chanting ``Chávez will not leave!''

Several mayoral offices throughout Venezuela that had been won by opposition candidates in recent state and municipal elections were also looted or vandalized, opposition leaders said.

Venezuelans are expected to vote sometime in the first few months of 2009 on a constitutional reform that would allow indefinite presidential reelection. Chávez is on his last term allowed by the current constitution.

In recent weeks, university students -- who mobilized much of the opposition to last year's failed attempt by Chávez to erase all limits on presidential reelection -- also have been the targets of violent attacks.

On Tuesday, Chávez sympathizers attacked a gathering of students and opposition leaders at a central park in Caracas, throwing rocks and bottles, and beating three students severely, according to police reports.

On Wednesday, an act honoring Venezuelan independence hero Simón Bolivar, held just steps from the National Assembly, ended in a melee between students and pro-Chávez militants that left several injured.

JOURNALISTS TARGETED

Also targeted by the attackers have been media outlets that have been critical of the Chávez government, such as the television network Globovisión and the Caracas daily El Nacional.

In November, an armed pro-Chávez group known as La Piedrita -- the little stone -- that operates openly in a low-income section of western Caracas circulated a list of journalists it had declared ''military targets'' for opposing the regime.

Among the journalists was Martha Colomina, a communications professor, host of opinion shows and columnist for the Caracas daily El Universal. On Dec. 1, several unidentified attackers fired shots and threw a tear gas canister at Colomina's home, leaving behind several pamphlets naming her as a ``military target.''

La Piedrita also has been blamed for tear gas attacks this year against Globovión and the newspaper El Nuevo País, and is suspected of having set off a small bomb at the Caracas headquarters of Fedecamaras, the federation of Venezuela's chambers of business and trade.

Venezuela's National College of Journalists condemned the attacks on Colomina in a statement that denounced ``the existence of a political offensive, carried out by the government through all the coercive instruments of the state, with the intention of striking fear in the civilian population that is not aligned with its interest and objectives.''