Bomb Kills Venezuela Prosecutor, Gov't Swipes at U.S.
2 hours, 37 minutes ago World - Reuters
By Patrick Markey
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - A Venezuelan prosecutor probing a 2002 coup against President Hugo Chavez was killed by a car bomb that the government blamed on Friday on radical opponents it said were training in the United States.
Senior officials said the attack that killed Danilo Anderson late on Thursday was carried out by opposition "fascists and terrorists" and they accused the U.S. government of tolerating hard-line Chavez opponents on its territory.
"This was clearly a political assassination," Information Minister Andres Izarra said. "We believe the U.S. government must explain how these terrorist groups can be operating in Florida, U.S. territory."
The minister said the attack was aimed at halting prosecutions led by Anderson against several hundred opposition politicians, lawyers and former military officers accused of supporting Chavez's short-lived ouster in the 2002 coup.
In a broadcast to the nation late on Friday, Chavez, accompanied by his ministers, condemned Anderson's killers as "murdering hyenas" and vowed they would be brought to justice.
"This will not go unpunished," he said, ending his speech by singing a popular elegy and giving a military salute in honor of the dead prosecutor.
The U.S. government condemned the bombing and dismissed any links to those involved in the Caracas attack.
A U.S. official, speaking anonymously, denied Washington would abet Chavez opponents living in the United States.
"The charge is ridiculous and more of a politically motivated conspiracy theory," he said.
Chavez often accuses Washington of blindly supporting opponents who claim to be defending Venezuela's democracy against dictatorship. He says some are U.S.-backed "coup-mongers" bent on toppling or killing him.
Izarra cited U.S. and Venezuelan media reports of anti-Chavez radicals training near Miami alongside Cuban exiles to carry out attacks against Venezuela and Communist Cuba.
In his broadcast, Chavez blamed the killing on minority "anti-democratic and terrorist groups" in the opposition but he did not repeat his minister's accusation against the United States.
FEARS OF INSTABILITY
Thursday's killing revived fears of instability in the world's No. 5 oil exporter, which until recently had been shaken by violent confrontation over Chavez's presidency. Venezuela is a key supplier of oil to the United States.
Authorities said a remote-controlled blast destroyed Anderson's yellow jeep as he drove through a Caracas suburb. Initial tests showed an explosive had been placed near the driver's seat and his body was badly burned.
Investigators said the prosecutor had received threats and had recently been attacked in a shopping mall.
Anderson was vilified by opposition supporters as part of a political vendetta by an increasingly authoritarian president who controls key institutions such as the courts. Some opposition leaders said they feared a government crackdown.
Political tensions had calmed in Venezuela after Chavez won an Aug. 15 recall referendum and consolidated his political control in Oct. 31 regional elections that left opponents scrambling to redefine their role.
Chavez, a former army officer elected in 1998 vowing to fight poverty and corruption, suspended a trip to Costa Rica on Friday to attend an Ibero-American summit. But he planned to leave on Sunday for a tour of Spain, Libya, Iran and Russia.
The Venezuelan leader presents himself as a regional voice against U.S. economic dominance and his anti-capitalist rhetoric and close ties to Cuban leader Fidel Castro (news - web sites) have in the past strained relations with Washington. (Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher in Caracas, Saul Hudson in Santiago and Tabassum Zakaria in Washington)
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