US embassy cable - 04CARACAS3781

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 003781 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, VE, OAS 
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA: POLICE OFFICIALS IN CUSTODY AFTER 
ASYLUM DENIED 
 
Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for 
Reason 1.4(d) 
 
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Summary 
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1. (U) Venezuelan authorities took former Metropolitan Police 
commissioners Henry Vivas and Lazaro Forero into police 
custody on December 3, after the government of El Salvador 
refused their request for political asylum.  The former 
police leaders sought asylum at the Salvadoran Embassy in 
Caracas on November 26.  The GOV accuses Vivas and Forero of 
being the "intellectual authors" directing police operations 
during the April 11, 2002 events when approximately 20 people 
were killed and many more injured during an opposition march 
on the Presidential Palace that resulted in president Hugo 
Chavez's temporary ouster.  End Summary. 
 
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Arrested and Charged 
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2. (U)  Venezuelan authorities took former Metropolitan 
Police commissioners Henry Vivas and Lazaro Forero into 
police custody on December 3.  They were moved from the 
Salvadoran Embassy in Caracas, where they had sought 
political asylum on November 26, to the Investigative and 
Criminal Police Corps (CICPC) headquarters under heavy guard 
after the Salvadoran government officially refused their 
request for political asylum.  As the two left the Salvadoran 
Embassy, Prosecutor Luisa Ortega advised Vivas and Forero 
that they were charged with directing police operations 
during the April 11, 2002 events when 20 people were killed 
and many more injured.  At the time, an opposition march 
moved to the Presidential Palace, and police clashed with 
government supporters.  (Note: Former Caracas mayor Alfredo 
Pena was also under investigation for April 11 events.  Pena 
fled from Venezuela, allegedly to Miami, and has also been 
formally charged with corruption charges.)  Vivas and Forero 
are now being held in pre-trial detention at CICPC 
headquarters. 
 
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Asylum Attempt 
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3. (U) Salvadoran Foreign Minister Francisco Lainez told 
reporters Vivas and Forero were refused asylum based on 
treaties and international agreements on political asylum. 
Lainez said the decision was made after an exhaustive 
analysis and meetings with the GOV, diplomatic community, and 
the Catholic Church.  The Salvadoran Ambassador to Costa 
Rica, Hugo Carrillo, was sent to Venezuela as a special envoy 
in the Vivas-Forero asylum request and met with Vice 
President Jose Vicente Rangel November 29.   Lainez denied 
any ties between the asylum decision and supposed oil 
negotiations or the search for votes for El Salvador's 
ex-president and candidate for the Secretary General of the 
Organization of American States (OAS), Francisco Flores. 
 
4. (U) Vivas and Forero's lawyer, Juan Garanton, said they 
had sought asylum because political persecution made them 
fear for their safety. Lainez reassured reporters that Vivas 
and Forero were delivered to the Venezuelan authorities only 
after reaching an agreement to guarantee their physical and 
mental well-being.  Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica and El 
Salvador were part of the agreement.  According to the press, 
the leftist opposition in El Salvador had urged that the 
asylum request be denied and celebrated the decision. 
 
5. (C) Constitutional lawyer Tulio Alvarez told PolCouns 
December 3 that he had met with Forero and Vivas the day they 
entered the Salvadoran Embassy.  From the beginning, Alvarez 
asserted, it was evident that the Salvadorans were not going 
to grant asylum.  He said the Salvadoran Charge had wanted 
him to convince Forero and Vivas to leave the Embassy 
premises, but he refused because he "could not have asked the 
men to give up the legal right to request asylum."  Asked why 
they went to the Salvadorans, Alvarez said the two were being 
pursued (Alvarez encountered political police (DISIP) agents 
 
 
in the building's basement) and feared for their lives. 
 
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Comment 
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6. (C)  More than two years after the April 11 events, Chavez 
and his supporters are still looking to hold some 
non-Chavistas responsible and Vivas and Forero are good 
candidates.  After a year in custody, eight Metropolitan 
police officials charged with the shootings of April 11 began 
to change their story and allegedly implicated Vivas and 
Forero.  Apparently unable to produce a viable case against 
the street cops, the GOV has turned to their more visible and 
well known superiors to place blame.  It is good public 
fodder, regardless of whether there will be sufficient 
evidence to prove the case.  Much is likely to rest on tapes, 
of questionable origin, in GOV possession of the police 
commanders issuing operational orders on April 11. 
 
7. (C) From here, the reasoning behind the Salvadoran denial 
is unclear, although the Salvadoran OAS candidacy may be an 
important element.  Rumors and conventional wisdom also 
attribute the decision to "petro-pressure," but we do not put 
much store in that.  For Chavez opponents, however, it is 
another demoralizing blow that the GOV was able to close out 
the option of obtaining asylum at a foreign embassy in 
Venezuela. 
Brownfield 
 
 
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      2004CARACA03781 - CONFIDENTIAL