Chavez Rounding Up Top Political Foes

Is president tightening grip as oil prices drop?

By Gabriel Winant, Newser User

Posted Apr 3, 2009 7:36 AM CDT

(Newser) – The Venezuelan government arrested opposition figure Raúl Baduel yesterday, the second such move in recent weeks, the Wall Street Journal reports. Baduel, a former defense minister and ally of President Hugo Chavez, helped restore the president to power after a coup in 2002, but he helped rally opposition to his reelection in 2007. Last month, Chavez sought an arrest warrant for his 2006 opponent, Manuel Rosales, sending him into hiding.

“All available information suggests that this is selective prosecution motivated by political reasons,” says an official with Human Rights Watch, himself expelled from the country at gunpoint last year. Chavez may be clamping down as oil prices sink, hampering his ability to fund the lavish social programs that buttress his popularity with Venezuela’s poor.

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Maracaibo's Mayor Manuel Rosales delivers a speech during a rally supporting him in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Friday, March 20. He has gone into hiding. (AP Photo/Reinaldo D'Santiago)

Venezuela's former defense minister, Raul Baduel, answers questions during a news conference in Panama City, in this Friday, April 18, 2008 file photo. He was arrested yesterday. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez speaks with Photographers during the opening session of the Arab- South American Summit in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, March 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez waves to photographers during the opening session of the Arab-South American Summit in Doha, Qatar, Tuesday, March 31, 2009. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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All available information suggests that this is selective prosecution motivated by political reasons. - José Miguel Vivanco, exec. director of Human Rights Watch Americas program

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Chavez Rounding Up Top Political Foes