Venezuela arrests international criminal

VENEZUELA: The capture of Salvadoran terrorist Francisco Chávez Abarca stands out among this week’s events in Venezuela, where allegations of assassination against Hugo Chavez are gaining strength.

The international criminal was detained Thursday when trying to enter under false identity at Simon Bolivar International Airport.

An arrest warrant (red alert) had been issued against Chavez Abarca in the Interpol for his involvement in bomb attacks against hotels and resorts in the Cuban capital in 1997. According to the Cuban authorities, the terrorist planted a bomb of 600 grams of C-4 (plastic explosive) in the disco Ashé at the Melia Cohiba Hotel April 12, 1997, and 18 days later another 401-gram explosive at the 15th floor in the same facility. Then, he hired his compatriot Raul Cruz Leon, who planted bombs in Copacabana, Triton and Chateau hotels in Havana in September, one of which killed Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo.

Chavez Abarca’s criminal record also includes sabotages against Cuban assets in Mexico and the Bahamas, always under the orders of the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, a fugitive from Venezuelan justice and confessed mastermind of the mid-flight blowing up of a Cubana airliner with 73 people on board.

President Hugo Chavez informed the public opinion about the terroristâ€Ös capture and said he will be handed over to Interpol for extradition to Cuba after interrogation and investigations are carried out.

Caracas, Prensa Latina