Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04CARACAS3781
2004-12-08 14:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Caracas
Cable title:  

VENEZUELA: POLICE OFFICIALS IN CUSTODY AFTER

Tags:  PREL PHUM VE OAS 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 003781 

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014
TAGS: PREL PHUM VE OAS
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA: POLICE OFFICIALS IN CUSTODY AFTER
ASYLUM DENIED

Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for
Reason 1.4(d)

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 003781

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014
TAGS: PREL PHUM VE OAS
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA: POLICE OFFICIALS IN CUSTODY AFTER
ASYLUM DENIED

Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for
Reason 1.4(d)

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (U) Venezuelan authorities took former Metropolitan Police
commissioners Henry Vivas and Lazaro Forero into police
custody on December 3, after the government of El Salvador
refused their request for political asylum. The former
police leaders sought asylum at the Salvadoran Embassy in
Caracas on November 26. The GOV accuses Vivas and Forero of
being the "intellectual authors" directing police operations
during the April 11, 2002 events when approximately 20 people
were killed and many more injured during an opposition march
on the Presidential Palace that resulted in president Hugo
Chavez's temporary ouster. End Summary.

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Arrested and Charged
--------------


2. (U) Venezuelan authorities took former Metropolitan
Police commissioners Henry Vivas and Lazaro Forero into
police custody on December 3. They were moved from the
Salvadoran Embassy in Caracas, where they had sought
political asylum on November 26, to the Investigative and
Criminal Police Corps (CICPC) headquarters under heavy guard
after the Salvadoran government officially refused their
request for political asylum. As the two left the Salvadoran
Embassy, Prosecutor Luisa Ortega advised Vivas and Forero
that they were charged with directing police operations
during the April 11, 2002 events when 20 people were killed
and many more injured. At the time, an opposition march
moved to the Presidential Palace, and police clashed with
government supporters. (Note: Former Caracas mayor Alfredo
Pena was also under investigation for April 11 events. Pena
fled from Venezuela, allegedly to Miami, and has also been
formally charged with corruption charges.) Vivas and Forero
are now being held in pre-trial detention at CICPC
headquarters.

--------------
Asylum Attempt
--------------


3. (U) Salvadoran Foreign Minister Francisco Lainez told
reporters Vivas and Forero were refused asylum based on
treaties and international agreements on political asylum.
Lainez said the decision was made after an exhaustive

analysis and meetings with the GOV, diplomatic community, and
the Catholic Church. The Salvadoran Ambassador to Costa
Rica, Hugo Carrillo, was sent to Venezuela as a special envoy
in the Vivas-Forero asylum request and met with Vice
President Jose Vicente Rangel November 29. Lainez denied
any ties between the asylum decision and supposed oil
negotiations or the search for votes for El Salvador's
ex-president and candidate for the Secretary General of the
Organization of American States (OAS),Francisco Flores.


4. (U) Vivas and Forero's lawyer, Juan Garanton, said they
had sought asylum because political persecution made them
fear for their safety. Lainez reassured reporters that Vivas
and Forero were delivered to the Venezuelan authorities only
after reaching an agreement to guarantee their physical and
mental well-being. Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica and El
Salvador were part of the agreement. According to the press,
the leftist opposition in El Salvador had urged that the
asylum request be denied and celebrated the decision.


5. (C) Constitutional lawyer Tulio Alvarez told PolCouns
December 3 that he had met with Forero and Vivas the day they
entered the Salvadoran Embassy. From the beginning, Alvarez
asserted, it was evident that the Salvadorans were not going
to grant asylum. He said the Salvadoran Charge had wanted
him to convince Forero and Vivas to leave the Embassy
premises, but he refused because he "could not have asked the
men to give up the legal right to request asylum." Asked why
they went to the Salvadorans, Alvarez said the two were being
pursued (Alvarez encountered political police (DISIP) agents


in the building's basement) and feared for their lives.

--------------
Comment
--------------


6. (C) More than two years after the April 11 events, Chavez
and his supporters are still looking to hold some
non-Chavistas responsible and Vivas and Forero are good
candidates. After a year in custody, eight Metropolitan
police officials charged with the shootings of April 11 began
to change their story and allegedly implicated Vivas and
Forero. Apparently unable to produce a viable case against
the street cops, the GOV has turned to their more visible and
well known superiors to place blame. It is good public
fodder, regardless of whether there will be sufficient
evidence to prove the case. Much is likely to rest on tapes,
of questionable origin, in GOV possession of the police
commanders issuing operational orders on April 11.


7. (C) From here, the reasoning behind the Salvadoran denial
is unclear, although the Salvadoran OAS candidacy may be an
important element. Rumors and conventional wisdom also
attribute the decision to "petro-pressure," but we do not put
much store in that. For Chavez opponents, however, it is
another demoralizing blow that the GOV was able to close out
the option of obtaining asylum at a foreign embassy in
Venezuela.
Brownfield


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2004CARACA03781 - CONFIDENTIAL