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Former governor of the state of Zulia, and opposition presidential
candidate Oswaldo Álvarez Paz was
arrested on 22 March 2010, in Venezuela
for remarks he made during a
February broadcast of the Globovisión talkshow Aló Ciudadano ("Hello Citizen").
Álvarez Paz had said "Venezuela has turned into a center of
operations that facilitates the business of drug trafficking." He
also accused "Chavez of being a subversive element and having direct
links not just with FARC and ETA but almost every subversive or terrorist
group in the world."
Authorities opened an inquiry
and a court ordered Álvarez 's arrest at his home in Caracas late on 22
March. He
was charged with conspiracy, and with spreading false information and
publicly inciting violation of the law. The accusations
against Álvarez could carry a jail
sentence of between two and 16 years.
"I assume the
responsibility for the things that I have said and that I do," he
told reporters before his arrest.His lawyer, Omar Estancio, said the
arrest order was "disproportional" and "politicized"
while COPEI, a Christian Democrat party, called the accusations
"absurd".
The detention of Oswaldo
Álvarez Paz, a veteran with the
opposition COPEI party but not one of Chavez's most prominent foes, will
fuel criticism that the Venezuelan leader is taking his nation down an
increasingly dictatorial route.
Chavez said he would not tolerate illegal use of the Internet or media
by his opponents.
Chavez supporters argue,
however, their president is a victim of a U.S.-led campaign of
vilification, and that he is reversing decades of exploitation in the
OPEC member nation with policies for the poor like free clinics and
schools.
Oswaldo Álvarez Paz (born 1943 )
was the Governor of
oil-producing Zulia state from
1990 - 1993, and the COPEI candidate in the Venezuelan presidential
election, 1993, resigning as governor in order to run. He defeated COPEI
party leader Eduardo Fernández in the party primary and unsuccessfully ran for the
presidency with COPEI in 1993.
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