11-20-2004
Venezuela's president vows to track down killers of top prosecutor<
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) _ President Hugo Chavez vowed to track down the killers of a state attorney whose death in a car bomb has shaken the oil-rich South American nation and renewed the specter of violence.
However he appeared to back away from a claim by his spokesman that "terrorists" training in Florida were responsible for the assassination of Danilo Anderson.
Anderson, known to many Venezuelans as the "super prosecutor," was preparing a case against nearly 400 people who backed Venezuela's 2002 coup. He was killed when two explosions ripped through his SUV as he drove through the capital around midnight Thursday.
"The attack against Danilo Anderson is an attack against all of us," Chavez said in a televised address to the nation late Friday, adding that it was also an attack on Venezuelans' dreams for democracy.
At a news conference earlier in the day, Chavez's spokesman, Andres Izarra, said the assassination was designed to derail Anderson's investigation of the coup, in which 19 people were killed and almost 300 wounded.
Izarra accused "fascists and terrorists," some of whom he said trained in Florida, of being behind the attack.
But Chavez said "we will not condemn anyone beforehand," and Deputy Information Minister William Castillo told The Associated Press that Izarra was not directly linking exiles in Florida to the assassination.
Authorities in the capital called for calm as hundreds of mourners, some weeping and others shouting "Justice!" watched while a coffin bearing the slain prosecutor's body was brought into the attorney general's office building in downtown Caracas.
U.S. officials denounced the assassination.
"We offer our condolences to his family and call for a full investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators," Adam Ereli, a State Department spokesman, said in Washington.
While the United States remains Venezuela's main buyer of oil, relations between the Chavez and Bush administrations have been testy. Chavez has blasted the U.S.-led Iraq war; Washington is unhappy with Chavez's close links with Cuba's Fidel Castro and attempts to centralize power.
The killing of the 38-year-old prosecutor came just as a political crisis that gripped the country for the past 2 1/2 years was easing.
Opponents of Chavez, a fiery leftist and former army paratroop commander, failed to oust him in the two-day coup in April 2002, in a two-month national strike later that year and in a national referendum last August.
The assassination underscored the instability of the political situation in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.
Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacon said C-4, a military-grade plastic explosive, was apparently used in the attack, detonated by remote control. The explosions were so powerful they shattered windows in nearby buildings.
Anderson's body was so badly burned that it was hours before authorities could conclusively identify him. A pistol he carried amid death threats and his cell phones were found intact in the wreckage.
Hundreds of Venezuelans, unable to contain their outrage, massed in front of the attorney general's office. Anderson's coffin was brought in for a wake by a crowd of people singing the national anthem. He was then taken to Congress.
Chavez canceled attending the Ibero-American Summit in Costa Rica and paid his respects to Anderson and his sobbing relatives.
"They killed this man because he was a true fighter for true justice," Chavez said. "We honor his memory."
Anderson was involved in several cases against opponents of Chavez, who was elected on his promises to help Venezuela's majority poor.
At the time of his death, Anderson was preparing a case against nearly 400 people who signed a declaration supporting interim President Pedro Carmona during the coup.
Chavez was returned to power amid a popular uprising denouncing the coup and a split among Venezuela's armed forces into whether it should have been carried out. Carmona, a former business leader, is now living in exile in neighboring Colombia.
___
Associated Press reporter Fabiola Sanchez contributed to this report from Caracas.
Venezuela's president vows to track down killers of top prosecutor<
^By ANDREW SELSKY=
^Associated Press Writer=
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) _ President Hugo Chavez vowed to track down the killers of a state attorney whose death in a car bomb has shaken the oil-rich South American nation and renewed the specter of violence.
However he appeared to back away from a claim by his spokesman that "terrorists" training in Florida were responsible for the assassination of Danilo Anderson.
Anderson, known to many Venezuelans as the "super prosecutor," was preparing a case against nearly 400 people who backed Venezuela's 2002 coup. He was killed when two explosions ripped through his SUV as he drove through the capital around midnight Thursday.
"The attack against Danilo Anderson is an attack against all of us," Chavez said in a televised address to the nation late Friday, adding that it was also an attack on Venezuelans' dreams for democracy.
At a news conference earlier in the day, Chavez's spokesman, Andres Izarra, said the assassination was designed to derail Anderson's investigation of the coup, in which 19 people were killed and almost 300 wounded.
Izarra accused "fascists and terrorists," some of whom he said trained in Florida, of being behind the attack.
But Chavez said "we will not condemn anyone beforehand," and Deputy Information Minister William Castillo told The Associated Press that Izarra was not directly linking exiles in Florida to the assassination.
Authorities in the capital called for calm as hundreds of mourners, some weeping and others shouting "Justice!" watched while a coffin bearing the slain prosecutor's body was brought into the attorney general's office building in downtown Caracas.
U.S. officials denounced the assassination.
"We offer our condolences to his family and call for a full investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators," Adam Ereli, a State Department spokesman, said in Washington.
While the United States remains Venezuela's main buyer of oil, relations between the Chavez and Bush administrations have been testy. Chavez has blasted the U.S.-led Iraq war; Washington is unhappy with Chavez's close links with Cuba's Fidel Castro and attempts to centralize power.
The killing of the 38-year-old prosecutor came just as a political crisis that gripped the country for the past 2 1/2 years was easing.
Opponents of Chavez, a fiery leftist and former army paratroop commander, failed to oust him in the two-day coup in April 2002, in a two-month national strike later that year and in a national referendum last August.
The assassination underscored the instability of the political situation in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.
Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacon said C-4, a military-grade plastic explosive, was apparently used in the attack, detonated by remote control. The explosions were so powerful they shattered windows in nearby buildings.
Anderson's body was so badly burned that it was hours before authorities could conclusively identify him. A pistol he carried amid death threats and his cell phones were found intact in the wreckage.
Hundreds of Venezuelans, unable to contain their outrage, massed in front of the attorney general's office. Anderson's coffin was brought in for a wake by a crowd of people singing the national anthem. He was then taken to Congress.
Chavez canceled attending the Ibero-American Summit in Costa Rica and paid his respects to Anderson and his sobbing relatives.
"They killed this man because he was a true fighter for true justice," Chavez said. "We honor his memory."
Anderson was involved in several cases against opponents of Chavez, who was elected on his promises to help Venezuela's majority poor.
At the time of his death, Anderson was preparing a case against nearly 400 people who signed a declaration supporting interim President Pedro Carmona during the coup.
Chavez was returned to power amid a popular uprising denouncing the coup and a split among Venezuela's armed forces into whether it should have been carried out. Carmona, a former business leader, is now living in exile in neighboring Colombia.
___
Associated Press reporter Fabiola Sanchez contributed to this report from Caracas.
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