Outspoken foe of Venezuela’s Chavez released while awaiting trial for remarks on talk show

Chavez critic freed pending trial for remarks

CARACAS, Venezuela — An outspoken opponent of President Hugo Chavez was released from custody Thursday, but a lawyer said Oswaldo Alvarez Paz still faces criminal charges for remarks on a TV talk show.

Attorney Omar Estacio said a judge ordered the state intelligence service to free his client while he awaits trial on charges of spreading false information and publicly inciting crime.

“He’s going to be with his family, his children, his wife,” Estacio said.

Alvarez Paz, a former presidential candidate and state governor, was arrested March 28 for saying in a television appearance several weeks earlier that Venezuela has turned into a haven for drug traffickers. He also backed allegations by a Spanish judge that Chavez’s government has cooperated with the Basque separatist group ETA and Colombian rebels.

Chavez has dismissed those accusations.

As he left the intelligence agency’s headquarters surrounded by relatives and friends, Alvarez Paz called the charges against him politically motivated and vowed not curb his criticism of Chavez.

“Here we are, willing to continue fighting for the principles and values that we’ve always believed in: a person’s total freedom to express opinions,” he said. “I’m the victim of an injustice.”

Alvarez Paz, 67, held up a T-shirt that read: “Expressing an opinion is not a crime,” then climbed into a black sedan that sped off.

One of the politician’s sons said that under the terms of his release, Alvarez Paz is barred from leaving Venezuela or speaking publicly about the case and could be taken into custody again if he violates those rules.

“This is only the beginning to a process that we must confront,” Juan Carlos Alvarez told the television channel Globovision.

The case against of Alvarez Paz has drawn strong condemnation from opposition leaders and human rights activists who say the case shows freedoms are being eroded by Chavez’s socialist government. The New York-based Human Rights Watch called the case a setback for freedom of expression in Venezuela.

Hundreds of supporters of Alvarez Paz staged a street demonstration to celebrate his release on a main avenue in Maracaibo, the capital of the politician’s home state.

Alvarez Paz said he has not ruled out running in September congressional elections. The opposition aspires to win majority control of the National Assembly, dominated by Chavez allies since major opposition parties boycotted the last congressional elections in 2005. If elected, Alvarez Paz would be granted the customary immunity from prosecution afforded to lawmakers unless impeached.

“We will evaluate it now, but it’s not among my priorities,” he said.

Alvarez Paz isn’t the only Chavez opponent facing prosecution for making remarks that authorities deemed misleading and offensive to Chavez.

Last month, prosecutors brought criminal charges against Guillermo Zuloaga, the majority shareholder of Globovision, Venezuela’s lone anti-Chavez television channel, alleging he made false and offensive remarks about Chavez at a meeting of the Inter American Press Association.

Zuloaga claims the government is using the charges to pressure him into curbing the TV station’s anti-Chavez editorial line. He has promised not to tone down Globovision’s criticism of the government.