Venezuela hunger striker's death angers Chavez foes

Venezuelan farmer Franklin Brito sits on his bed during a hunger strike at the Caracas military hospital

(Reuters) -

By Andrew Cawthorne

CARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan farmer who died after a hunger strike to protest President Hugo Chavez's land takeover policies was denied his own doctor and has become a symbol for the oppressed, his mourning family said.

In a politically sensitive case just weeks before a parliamentary election, Franklin Brito, 49, died on Monday at a Caracas military hospital where he had been taken against his will after demonstrating in a public square.

"Franklin Brito's struggle continues," his family said in a statement. "He has left his human form to become a symbol and flag for all those oppressed by the arrogance of power."

The government has in the past said Brito was mentally unstable and that he had rejected their efforts to guarantee his land rights. It said officials had done everything possible to save his life and accused opposition parties of exploiting his case for political motives.

Some 59 acres of yucca and watermelon plantations on Brito's land in southern Bolivar state were seized and occupied by neighbors in 2003, beginning a complicated saga of protests, claims and counter-claims over the case.

Before being taken to the military hospital at the end of last year, Brito camped for months outside the Caracas office of the Organization of American States, sewed his mouth shut and even chopped off a finger in front of television cameras.

His death came at a time of high political passions in the South American nation ahead of a September 26 vote for parliament where the opposition hopes to slash the majority of Chavez and his Socialist Party.

CUBAN COMPARISON

Some Chavez critics had compared Brito's case to that of Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata, who died in February after an 85-day hunger strike demanding better prison conditions. That drew international condemnation of Havana's rights record.

Before his death, Brito had been taking some fluids in the hospital through injections to fend off dehydration, but relatives said he had not been allowed to see a doctor of his choice.

"He wanted to be with his own trusted doctor," his daughter Angela Brito told reporters, accusing the state of "torture".

The precise cause of death was unclear, with some media saying he had a heart attack.

A government statement said Brito's vital organs were severely damaged and he had a general lung infection.

"The institutions of the Venezuelan state tried by all necessary actions to try and preserve his life," it said.

The statement said Brito's property rights had been ratified years ago but that opposition parties had "used his good will for political means."

Amid a torrent of condemnations from opposition groups, the First Justice party said Brito's death was symptomatic of Venezuela's "sick" society.

"The absence of dialogue and understanding makes the most vulnerable people take drastic decisions like a father prepared to die in defense of a right consecrated in the National Constitution: private property."

Still largely popular among the poor, Chavez says he is reversing decades of injustice by redistributing wealth in the South American OPEC member along more equitable lines. Some 6.2 million acres (2.5 million hectares) have been expropriated.

Opponents say Chavez, 56, is turning Venezuela into a Cuban-style regime and wrecking the economy.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Rondon and Enrique Andres Pretel; Editing by Daniel Wallis)