Anti-Chavez union boss jailed in Venezuela

By Patrick Markey

Caracas, Venezuela - A Venezuelan labour leader who organized a strike against President Hugo Chavez three years ago was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly 16 years in prison after a trial critics said was political persecution.

Carlos Ortega, one of Chavez's fiercest foes, is the first top opposition leader found guilty of rebellion and jailed for the two-month-long strike that battered the economy but failed to topple the left-wing president.

Authorities are probing hundreds of business and political figures for supporting a short-lived 2002 coup that briefly ousted Chavez and triggered months of political turmoil in the world's No 5 oil exporter.

'I'll keep fighting to preserve freedom'
The government says opposition leaders who supported the coup and the subsequent strike must face rebellion charges for wrecking the economy and sabotaging the country's oil industry in an effort to oust Chavez. Opponents of the soldier-turned-president accuse him of cracking down on foes as he edges Venezuela closer to the model of his ally Cuban leader Fidel Castro through control of the courts and other key institutions.

"From prison, I'll keep working, I'll keep fighting to preserve the freedom, democracy and unity of the people," Ortega told Globovision news station by telephone. "I'm no conspirator or coup plotter and I didn't betray my country."

Ortega was captured in March in a Caracas nightclub after he returned to Venezuela from asylum in Costa Rica.

His attorney said the trial violated due process and that Ortega planned to appeal. Ortega was sentenced to 15 years and 11 months on civil rebellion and instigation charges.

"This is judicial persecution, a political trial," Andres Velasquez, of the Cause R opposition party, told local Union Radio after the sentencing.

Ortega, a grey-haired labor union firebrand, fled Venezuela in 2003 saying he feared for his life after officials ordered his arrest for helping spearhead the December 2002 to January 2003 strike.

The shutdown sent Venezuela's oil-reliant economy into a tailspin after managers at state petroleum company PDVSA joined the campaign to topple Chavez, who was first elected in 1998 promising to fight poverty.

Ortega became a familiar sight at the end of 2002 as he appeared on television nightly to urge Venezuelans to join the shutdown. Strike leaders said it was a legitimate protest against an increasingly authoritarian government.

Chavez said the strike was sabotage and fired thousands of PDVSA workers for taking part. Critics say the oil industry never fully recovered.

The failure of the strike allowed Chavez to consolidate his control over Venezuela's energy sector. A year later, he won a recall referendum on his presidency and vowed to consolidate his self-described socialist revolution.

Published on the Web by IOL on 2005-12-13 23:03:04