Leader of Venezuela’s Catholic Church accuses of Chavez of persecuting political opponents

Cardinal accuses Hugo Chavez of persecuting foes

CARACAS, Venezuela — The leader of Venezuela’s Roman Catholic Church accused the government of President Hugo Chavez on Monday of using judges and prosecutors to punish political adversaries.

Cardinal Jorge Urosa said authorities are unfairly prosecuting Chavez opponents for simply criticizing the government.

Urosa said an increasing number of Chavez’s foes are being “imprisoned for their opinion” and he urged Venezuelans to speak out against “any violation of human rights.” Human rights groups already have expressed concerns that Chavez is becoming increasingly authoritarian and cracking down on dissent.

Chavez denies doing that. The president says he holds no sway over the justice system, but encourages authorities to uphold Venezuelan laws.

Meanwhile, a Venezuelan lawmaker said Monday he was being prosecuted for his outspoken criticism of Chavez and his family and appealed for international support. Wilmer Azuaje said charges that he struck a police official are politically motivated and that Chavez intends to keep him from running for re-election and to silence him.

“Chavez’s goal is to eliminate me” from the political arena, he told The Associated Press.

Over the past week, prosecutors brought criminal charges against Guillermo Zuloaga, the majority shareholder of Venezuela’s lone anti-Chavez television channel, and opposition politician Oswaldo Alvarez Paz for making remarks that authorities deemed misleading and offensive to the president. Both deny any wrongdoing and say they stand by their statements.

Zuloaga, owner of the TV channel Globovision, is facing charges for making what prosecutors consider false and “offensive” remarks about Chavez at an Inter American Press Association meeting in Aruba.

Alvarez Paz, a former state governor, has been charged with conspiracy, spreading false information and publicly inciting crime after commenting during a TV interview that Venezuela has turned into a haven for drug traffickers, and also backing allegations by a Spanish judge that Venezuela has cooperated with the Basque separatist group ETA and Colombian rebels — accusations Chavez denies.

Cardinal Urosa also called attention to the case of Maria Afiuni, a judge jailed on charges of corruption and abuse of power for freeing a high-profile banker. Afiuni denies breaking the law, and government critics argue her arrest in December shows the judiciary’s lack of independence.

In a case the cardinal did not mention, the lawmaker Azuaje has been accused of insulting a police official and striking her on the shoulder during an argument last week.

Azuaje, a former Chavez ally, called on the Organization of American States to step in after pro-Chavez lawmakers voted to strip him of his immunity from prosecution — a rare step that in the past has usually been reserved for serious crimes.

A court on Sunday ordered Azuaje suspended from his post and barred him from holding public office while he is being tried. But Azuaje told the AP he aims to run for re-election in September’s congressional elections.

“I’m going to do it because I haven’t committed any crime,” Azuaje said. “This is a political trial.”

The legislator, who is from Chavez’s home state of Barinas, has long complained of harassment by authorities and violent incidents that he believes are in retaliation for his allegations of corruption and nepotism against Chavez’s family. Relatives of the president deny the accusations.

Azuaje claims he and his family have been the targets of repeated violence aimed at pressuring him to halt his accusations against the president’s relatives. In a shooting last year, hooded gunmen sprayed his Caracas home with bullets, injuring two neighbors. Azuaje contends the gunmen were trying to kill him, but police called it an attempted robbery.

Months earlier, one of his brothers, Cesar, was gunned down at a service station in Barinas. Azuaje claims the shooting was also meant to shut him up. But police, who have arrested two suspects, counter that the slaying was the unfortunate outcome of an attempted robbery.

Associated Press Writer Ian James contributed to this report.