Rebel troops demand President's resignation

Venezuelan army troops enraged by the killings of 12 civilians and wounding of 110 during an opposition march rebelled against President Hugo Chavez, today, seizing key installations and airports to prevent him from leaving the country.

Chavez was at the presidential palace with loyalist troops in talks with rebel officers, retired Gen Guaicaipuro Lameda said. Chavez’s defence minister, Jose Vicente Rangel, resigned, and rebel troops seized the government television station in Caracas.

Armed forces commander Gen Lucas Rincon has asked Chavez to resign and call elections, the armed forces chief of staff, Bernabe Carrero Cubero, said. ‘‘And we are waiting for the president to make that decision,’’ he added.

Carrero Cubero said Chavez had asked him to negotiate with rebellious officers ‘‘to avoid a bloodbath. If the National Guard, the army and the marines go at it in the streets, that’s what we’re going to have’’.

The head of the state security police said he had ordered his forces to remain in their barracks. A spokesman for Oil Minister Alvaro Silva said all ministers had been meeting Chavez at the presidential palace.

Small tanks arrived outside the palace last night, adding to tensions in a city already racked by the day’s violence in which National Guard troops clashed with pro-Chavez gunmen and participants in a 150,000-strong opposition march.

The Jose Maria Vargas hospital said 12 people were killed and as many as 110 wounded.

Chavez’s family flew from a Caracas military base to the western city of Barquisimeto earlier in the day, said Air Force Col Marcos Salas.

Gen Efrain Vasquez Velasco, the commander of the army, ordered all his commanders to join him in rebellion against Chavez.

‘‘We ask the Venezuelan people’s forgiveness for today’s events,’’ he said. ‘‘Mr President, I was loyal to the end, but today’s deaths cannot be tolerated.’’ More than 40 other high officers rebelled, including Gen Luis Alberto Camacho Kairuz, vice minister for citizen security.

There were earlier news reports that Chavez was preparing to leave the country, and three executive jets were seen preparing for take-off at La Carlota military airbase, which usually closes after dark. Televised reports that Chavez and his family were leaving could not be confirmed. A Chavez spokeswoman denied the reports, saying the president was meeting officials at the palace.

It has also been reported that he has, in fact, resigned his presidency.

Tanks guarded the palace as caravans of armoured vehicles patrolled Caracas streets and highways.

Yesterday Chavez ordered five private Caracas television stations to close for allegedly abusing freedom of expression by inciting opposition protests that erupted in violence. The stations continued transmitting by satellite, however, and some were able to re-establish their signals intermittently to report on the violence and casualties. The Organisation of American States demanded the restrictions be lifted.

A group of 30 military officers declared themselves in rebellion against Chavez ‘‘for violating democratic principles, guarantees and the human rights of Venezuelans’’.

‘‘The constitution obliges us to maintain internal order and avoid more spilling of blood and the destruction of our brave people and their institutions,’’ the officers said in a communique read by Navy Vice Adm Hector Ramirez.

Earlier, 11 other generals, admirals and commanders of the armed forces declared themselves in rebellion. None had active commands, palace officials said. But Gen Carlos Alfonso Martinez, inspector general of the National Guard, condemned the armed pro-Chavez civilian groups known as ‘‘Bolivarian Circles’’ for firing on civilians.

National Guard troops fired tear gas at the front ranks of marchers bearing sticks and throwing rocks to keep them about 100 yards away from the palace and thousands of Chavez supporters. Tear gas drifted into the presidential compound.

Multiple shots were fired near the palace, and scuffles with police erupted throughout downtown.

Witnesses said snipers belonging to pro-Chavez street groups fired on crowds from rooftops.

Caracas Fire Department Cmdr Rodolfo Briceno charged that snipers fired on ambulance crews as they tried to evacuate the wounded.

Vargas Hospital director Jose Maria Vargas said at least 12 people were killed and 96 wounded. Greater Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena said 110 were wounded.

Pena accused government snipers of firing on crowds, especially at opposition demonstrators. ‘‘Chavez has shown his true face. This dictator’s apprentice brutally ordered the repression of a peaceful demonstration,’’ Pena claimed.

‘‘This is state terrorism. The international community must condemn these killings. This government is criminal,’’ said Ramon Escobar Salon, a former attorney general.

Luis Miquilena, Chavez’s long-time mentor and a powerful interior minister until earlier this year, denounced the repression.

Globovision television displayed videotape of what it said was Chavez supporters shooting civilians at random near the palace.

The violence erupted on the third day of a general strike called to support oil executives who want Chavez to sack new management he appointed at the state oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela.

The executives are conducting a work slowdown that has seriously cut production and exports in Venezuela, the number three oil supplier to the United States.

Chavez said the TV stations and opposition ‘‘don’t want to see, hear or accept the reality’’ of his authority. The media, he said, were trying ‘‘to create panic and generate disturbances’’.

Both opposition and government supporters have been accused of violence this week.

The million-member Venezuelan Workers Confederation, or CTV, and Fedecamaras, Venezuela’s largest business group, stepped up their demands on yesterday.

At a rally at Petroleos de Venezuela headquarters, CTV head Carlos Ortega and Fedecamaras president Pedro Carmona demanded that Chavez resign. More than 150,000 cheered their call before marching several miles towards the palace, where the violence erupted.

After the killings, Ortega and Carmona demanded that Chavez step down and called for a transitional government to hold new elections. ‘‘Chavez’s armed thugs are killing our own people,’’ Ortega said.

The CTV opposes the government in part because the government owes billions of dollars in back pay and pensions inherited from previous governments. Chavez also refuses to recognize Ortega’s leadership of the country’s biggest labor group.

Fedecamaras claims it wasn’t consulted about 49 economic laws Chavez decreed last year, affecting industries ranging from oil to agriculture.