Chavez threatens to imprison opposition Governor
VENEZUELA: President Hugo Chavez threatened Saturday to imprison the
popular governor of Venezuela's western Zulia state for allegedly
plotting to kill him.
Chavez leveled the accusation against Manuel Rosales - one of
Venezuela's four opposition governors - just weeks before Nov. 23
gubernatorial and municipal elections.
Rosales, the two-time governor of Zulia, is running for mayor of
Maracaibo, Venezuela's second largest city.
He ran against Chavez for the presidency in 2006, but Chavez handily
defeated him with nearly 63 percent of the vote.
"I have decided to make Manuel Rosales a prisoner," Chavez told a
group of business leaders in Maracaibo. "He cannot continue in office.
... He is one of those who wants to see me dead."
Chavez did not give further details such as who would arrest Rosales
or what charges he would face.
Rosales denied the accusations later Saturday, calling the Chavez
government a "nest of gangsters and mafia leaders" with "clearly
demonstrated" ties to Colombian guerrillas.
"I respect (Chavez) as president but he has not respected me as
governor," Rosales told television station Globovision.
Since taking office in 1999, Chavez has frequently accused his
opponents of conspiring with Washington to assassinate him. But
government and opposition rhetoric is becoming even more heated ahead of
November's vote on 23 state governorships and 300 municipal posts.
In recent weeks, Chavez's allies have accused Rosales of planning the
president's assassination - though officials have not presented any
evidence implicating the governor in such a plot.
Chavez said Saturday "it's no coincidence" that authorities arrested
two people last month in Rosales' Zulia state in an alleged plot to
shoot down the presidential plane with an anti-tank weapon. He called
Rosales a corrupt gangster "worse than Don Corleone" of the "Godfather"
movies.
Chavez also said concerns for his safety led him to cancel a trip to
El Salvador for next week's Ibero-American Summit because President Tony
Saca's administration could not guarantee his safety.
Rosales has accused Chavez allies of making unfounded allegations as
an electoral ploy to distract Venezuelans from pressing problems such as
double-digit inflation and rampant crime.
Caracas, Sunday, AP |