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<font size=3><br>
</font><font face="georgia" size=5 color="#A80000">Opposition lawyer shot
dead in downtown Caracas shoot-out with police officers<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4 color="#A80000"><a href="http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=23655">http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=23655</a><br><br>
</font><font face="georgia" size=2>Lawyer Antonio Lopez has been shot
dead in a shoot-out with police officers who were attempting to arrest
him as a suspect in the last Thursday slaying of Venezuelan state
prosecutor Danilo Anderson.<br><br>
<b>Police chief Henry Zerpa says police officers attempted to detain
Lopez who drew a gun and began firing at the cops. Two police
agents were wounded in the shootout close to Plaza Venezuela in downtown
Caracas.</b>
<ul>
<li>Late last week, Lopez had reportedly gone into hiding and was
actively sought by National Crime Squad (CICPC) detectives investigating
the assassination of state prosecutor Danilo Anderson (38) last Thursday
evening.</font>
</ul><font face="verdana" size=2><br>
</font><font face="georgia" size=2>Anderson died in a fireball after some
250 grams of C-4 explosives were detonated under his Toyota 4WD ... the
government has already said the cold-blooded killing may have been aimed
at preventing Anderson's prosecution of opposition supporters involved in
an April 2002 coup d'etat against President Hugo Chavez which saw
US-backed Dictator for a Day Pedro Carmona Estanga seize power.
<br><br>
Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez has told the media that investigators
have already traced a vehicle used by Anderson's attackers who used
C-4 military explosives and a wireless trigger device to detonate two
bombs under Anderson's Toyota.<br><br>
<b>Interior & Justice (MIJ) Minister Jesse Chacon said National Crime
Squad (CICPC) detectives had traced a series of telephone calls which
have helped identify suspects, including Lopez.<br><br>
</b>Anderson had been investigating some 400 opposition supporters who
had lent their signatures to a coup decree backing the US puppet dictator
who took power during the brief coup against Chavez. Anderson had
already announced that he was investigated the opposition's former
Metropolitan Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena (who still remains in hiding) and
eight policemen for shootings during an opposition march, as well as some
59 rebel military officers.<br><br>
Some of those rebel officers are already implicated in the last year
bombings of the Colombian Consulate and the Spanish Embassy in Caracas as
well as the Teleport building HQ of a Carter Center/OAS 'Friends of
Venezuela' negotiating team.<br><br>
Venezuela has repeatedly asked the United States to extradite three rebel
officers cited in Venezuelan court proceedings to answer charges of
having orchestrated the bombings. Chacon says "I hope the US
government believes that terrorism must be fought and extradites them
back to Venezuelan jurisdiction ... the United States should
wholeheartedly support Venezuela's efforts against
terrorism."<br><br>
<b><u>In update news:</u></b> It is understood that one of the two CICPC
officers wounded in the gun battle with Lopez has just died. Police found
guns, grenades and explosives in Lopez' car and further caches at his
residence. The dead policeman has just been named as Alberto
Pavon. He died in a Caracas hospital this afternoon.<br><br>
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