Ex police chief sees judgment as his contribution to "hold back autocracy"

Antonio Ledezma, mayor of the Caracas Metropolitan Area, talks to an intelligence officer, who told him that he could not visit the ex police commissioners arrested (Photo: Vicente Correale)

Politics
From the headquarters of the Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (Disip), where he is arrested, Lázaro Forero, former chief of the Metropolitan Police, described a prison judgment against "nine Venezuelans and their respective families" as the "most absurd decision in the history of the Venezuelan judiciary system."

Reference is made to prison judgments issued last April 3 in connection with the events of April 2002.

In a letter sent to reporters, Forero said that the sentence amounts to "the use of justice as a deadly weapon that powerful people use against subjugated peoples." He claimed that such an order was issued directly by President Hugo Chávez.

"As a honest Venezuelan who is committed to democracy in my country, I bravely accept this 30-year jail sentence, as my contribution, my bit. This, together with the efforts everybody else should make, will help stop in a democratic way the President of the Republic's brisk steps towards autocracy, dictatorship, and even his final goal, which is imposing a rancid communism," said the former chief of Caracas' Metropolitan Police.

"On behalf of the sacrifice of nine humble men who will spend the rest of their lives behind bars -some of which, because of their age, may not even complete their terms in jail- I am asking the Venezuelan people not to be afraid; to fight for the future of your children, and fight democratically for the future of Venezuela," Forero said.

The former police commissioner urged the Venezuelan society to live without fear "because otherwise we will regret both the actions of evil people and the staggering silence of good people." "We will know that our sacrifice was not in vain when Venezuelans recover democracy and the rule of law," he added.

Forero said that he is at peace with himself, "for on April 11, I made my best, even at the expense of my own life, to preserve the safety of demonstrators." "I deeply regret the lives that were lost and the people injured in the confrontation between Venezuelans, as a result of the hatred President Chávez has sown in our hearts," Forero said.

The former officer of the Metropolitan Police stressed that "the worst punishment for a political prisoner is oblivion." He ended his letter by thanking the support from his wife, his lawyers and the media.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas