Chavez threatens opposition with jail

VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez this weekend threatened opposition governors with jail if they refuse to give up their posts after elections they claim could be hit by fraud.

Opposition leaders, who claim that fraud was committed in the August 15 recall referendum won by Chavez, fear they may be cheated out of victory in the upcoming gubernatorial and mayoral elections.

Observers from the Washington-based Organisation of American States and the Atlanta-based Carter Centre say they saw no evidence of fraud.

The decision of whether to participate at all in the elections has divided the opposition coalition, which has threatened to boycott the elections if the voter registry is not purged of more than 1.8 million purported errors.

Election authorities say they have no plans for a revision of voter rolls, which include more than 14 million registered voters.

Earlier on Saturday, Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena said he was withdrawing his candidacy for re-election, a move that leaves no other strong opposition candidate vying for the post.

The withdrawal of Mr Pena, who was Mr Chavez’s ally and minister during his first year as president, leaves government candidate Juan Barreto a step closer to the top spot in the city of 7 million people.

“The stampede of the opposition candidates has begun,” said Mr Chavez, whose critics say he is squandering this year’s extraordinary oil revenues on his political campaigns in a bid to hold on to office. His supporters, however, argue he is the first leader to offer opportunities to the country’s poor majority.

Fire burned its way up one of Venezuela’s tallest buildings yesterday and 25 of 100 firefighters battling the blaze were injured when they inhaled poisonous gases.

The firefighters’ efforts at the Parque Central complex in Caracas were hampered by water pumps that were not working properly and the absence of fire extinguishers, fire chief Rodolfo Briceno said. He did not say what the cause of the fire could have been.