Venezuela's Maduro sends military to fight crime in Caracas streets

By Enrique Andres Pretel

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday sent some 3,000 troops into the streets of the capital of Caracas to crack down on rampant crime that has made the OPEC nation one of the most dangerous in the world.

The "Secure Fatherland" plan is a new effort to lower violent crime following close to 20 similar attempts during the 14-year rule of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

"Our armed forces are taking the streets to protect the people," Maduro said in a speech to military police and troops that was carried live on state television.

"I call on you to serve your country. It must be more than just patrolling. It must a commitment of conscience, passion, and love."

The plan will create around 500 checkpoints in the coming months around the city. Some 9,000 new police officers currently in training and some 1,600 National Guard officers will later join the program.

The opposition has called it yet another half-baked attempt to crack down on crime, which has become the top concern for Venezuelans of all walks of life.

Official figures show that more than 16,000 people were killed in Venezuela in 2012, an increase of 14 percent from the year before and a murder rate of 55.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the world. Close to 3,4000 have been killed this year alone.

Non-governmental organizations that track violence report that the 2012 figure was actually above 21,000. The government accuses the media and the opposition of magnifying the problem and creating a "sensation of insecurity" for political gain.

One prominent human rights group criticized the new plan on the grounds that the military is trained to fight wars and to control public order, not to prevent crime.

Chavez himself was highly critical of previous governments that used the military to break up demonstrations or protests.

Hundreds and possibly thousands of people were killed when the military suppressed riots sparked by a fuel price hike in 1989, creating a lasting stigma about using troops to control civilians.

"The armed forces are different now," said Maduro on Friday when asked about potential human rights abuses in an interview with regional television station Telesur.

Maduro faces a delicate situation after winning a narrow victory in last month's election, which was triggered by Chavez's death.

He fell considerably short of his former boss's resounding election victories, beating his rival by only 1.5 percentage points, and the opposition has refused to recognize the results.

Crime was considered one of the biggest shortcomings of the Chavez government, which was widely admired for expanding access to healthcare, investing in education and providing subsidized groceries for the poor.

The interior ministry recognizes that many of the robberies, homicides and kidnappings are carried out by "mafias" within the police forces themselves.

Experts say the problem is rooted in a dysfunctional justice system, poor working conditions for police officers, and chaotic and gang-controlled prisons.

Maduro, a 50-year-old former bus driver, said he will also seek limits on television programming that promotes violence and a "cult of weapons."

(Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel; Additional reporting by Diego Oré; Editing by Eric Beech)

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Venezuela's Maduro sends military to fight crime in Caracas streets

By Enrique Andres Pretel

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday sent some 3,000 troops into the streets of the capital of Caracas to crack down on rampant crime that has made the OPEC nation one of the most dangerous in the world.

The "Secure Fatherland" plan is a new effort to lower violent crime following close to 20 similar attempts during the 14-year rule of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

"Our armed forces are taking the streets to protect the people," Maduro said in a speech to military police and troops that was carried live on state television.

"I call on you to serve your country. It must be more than just patrolling. It must a commitment of conscience, passion, and love."

The plan will create around 500 checkpoints in the coming months around the city. Some 9,000 new police officers currently in training and some 1,600 National Guard officers will later join the program.

The opposition has called it yet another half-baked attempt to crack down on crime, which has become the top concern for Venezuelans of all walks of life.

Official figures show that more than 16,000 people were killed in Venezuela in 2012, an increase of 14 percent from the year before and a murder rate of 55.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the highest in the world. Close to 3,4000 have been killed this year alone.

Non-governmental organizations that track violence report that the 2012 figure was actually above 21,000. The government accuses the media and the opposition of magnifying the problem and creating a "sensation of insecurity" for political gain.

One prominent human rights group criticized the new plan on the grounds that the military is trained to fight wars and to control public order, not to prevent crime.

Chavez himself was highly critical of previous governments that used the military to break up demonstrations or protests.

Hundreds and possibly thousands of people were killed when the military suppressed riots sparked by a fuel price hike in 1989, creating a lasting stigma about using troops to control civilians.

"The armed forces are different now," said Maduro on Friday when asked about potential human rights abuses in an interview with regional television station Telesur.

Maduro faces a delicate situation after winning a narrow victory in last month's election, which was triggered by Chavez's death.

He fell considerably short of his former boss's resounding election victories, beating his rival by only 1.5 percentage points, and the opposition has refused to recognize the results.

Crime was considered one of the biggest shortcomings of the Chavez government, which was widely admired for expanding access to healthcare, investing in education and providing subsidized groceries for the poor.

The interior ministry recognizes that many of the robberies, homicides and kidnappings are carried out by "mafias" within the police forces themselves.

Experts say the problem is rooted in a dysfunctional justice system, poor working conditions for police officers, and chaotic and gang-controlled prisons.

Maduro, a 50-year-old former bus driver, said he will also seek limits on television programming that promotes violence and a "cult of weapons."

(Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel; Additional reporting by Diego Oré; Editing by Eric Beech)

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Anger on streets as Bangladesh building toll passes 300

By Serajul Quadir and Ruma Paul

DHAKA (Reuters) - The search for survivors from Bangladesh's worst industrial accident stretched into a third day on Friday, with the death toll rising to 273 after the collapse of a building housing factories that made low-cost garments for Western brands.

Almost miraculously, 41 people trapped inside the rubble of the eight-storey building were rescued alive late on Thursday, government minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak said, about 40 hours after the disaster on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Nanak said they had been working on the fourth floor of the Rana Plaza building and had all been found trapped in one room. Few other details were available.

Around 2,000 people have been rescued over the past two days, at least half of them injured, but as many as 1,000 people remain unaccounted for.

An industry official has said 3,122 people, mainly female garment workers, were inside the building despite warnings that it was structurally unsafe.

Rescuers from Bangladesh's army, navy and air force, as well as police and fire services, pored over huge piles of rubble and twisted metal in the search for survivors, using their bare hands as well as mechanical equipment.

"We are not sure how many people are still trapped under the rubble," said Dhaka District police chief Habibur Rahman, who updated the death toll early on Friday to 273. "Priority has been given to save people who are still alive," he said.

Wednesday's disaster refocused attention on Western high-street brands that use Bangladesh as a source of low-cost goods.

North American and European chains, including British retailer Primark and Canada's Loblaw, said they were supplied by factories in the Rana Plaza building, which is in the commercial suburb of Savar, about 30 km (20 miles) from the capital.

TRAPPED WORKERS CALL FOR HELP

Savar residents and rescuers dropped bottled water and food on Thursday night to people who called out from between floors.

Relatives identified their dead among dozens of corpses wrapped in cloth on the veranda of a nearby school.

Police said the owner of the building, Mohammed Sohel Rana, a local politician from the ruling Awami League, was told of dangerous cracks on Tuesday.

While a bank in the building closed on Wednesday because of the warnings, the five clothing companies told their workers there was no danger, industry officials said. Rana is now on the run, according to police.

"We asked the garment owners to keep it closed," said Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Mohammad Atiqul Islam.

Despite the overnight rescue of 41 people, officials conceded the chances of finding more alive were growing slimmer.

"We can't be certain of getting them all out alive. We are losing a bit of hope," fire brigade rescue worker Mizanur Rahman said earlier on Thursday.

Special prayers will be offered at mosques, temples and pagodas across Bangladesh on Friday for the dead, injured and missing. The government declared a national day of mourning and flags were flown at half mast at all official buildings.

Anger over the working conditions of Bangladesh's 3.6 million garment workers, the overwhelming majority of them women, has grown steadily since the building collapse.

More than 1,000 textile workers besieged the BGMEA on Thursday, pelting it with stones and clashing with riot police. The workers demanded all garment factories be shut and the owners harshly punished for accidents.

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest apparel exporter, with the bulk of exports - 60 percent - going to Europe. The United States takes 23 percent and Canada takes 5 percent.

Primark, a unit of Associated British Foods, has confirmed one of its suppliers occupied the second floor of the building. Danish retailer PWT Group, which owns the Texman brand, said it had been using a factory in the building for seven years.

Canada's Loblaw, a unit of food processing and distribution firm George Weston Ltd, said one factory made a small number items for its "Joe Fresh" label.

Primark, Loblaw and PWT operate under codes of conduct aimed at ensuring products are made in good working conditions.

Documents including order sheets and cutting plans obtained by Reuters appeared to show that other major brands such as Benetton had used suppliers in the building in the past year.

A Benetton spokesman said none of the factories were suppliers to the company. Spain's Mango said it had an unfulfilled sample order at the plaza with Phantom Apparel.

(Additional reporting by Anis Ahmed in Dhaka, John Chalmers in New Delhi, Jessica Wohl and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Chicago, Solarina Ho in Toronto, Robert Hertz in Madrid and Mette Kronholm Fraende in Copenhagen; Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Venezuelans flood streets for another Chavez coffin parade

By Andrew Cawthorne and Girish Gupta

CARACAS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans were on the streets again on Friday at a funeral parade for Hugo Chavez amid opposition protests that the government was exploiting his death for election purposes.

Chavez's remains were to be driven for about 12 miles through the streets of Caracas from an army academy to a military museum on a hillside where the former soldier launched his political career with a failed coup in 1992.

A state funeral was held a week ago.

Friday's events were the culmination of 10 days of official mourning in the South American OPEC nation led by the flamboyant socialist president for 14 years until his death from cancer.

Though his remains were to be placed for now in the museum on the edge of the populous January 23 neighborhood - arguably the most militantly pro-Chavez zone in Venezuela - there was still doubt over his final resting place.

The government wanted to embalm Chavez "for eternity" in the style of Soviet leaders Lenin and Stalin and China's Mao. But embarrassingly for Venezuela, officials say the process was started too late and may not be possible.

Parliament had been due to debate a motion this week to amend the constitution for Chavez's body to be laid in the National Pantheon, close to the remains of his idol and South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

The constitution states that honor can only be accorded to leaders 25 years after their death.

But the debate was delayed amid talk that Chavez's corpse may be taken to his hometown Sabaneta, in the Venezuelan "llanos," or plains, to fulfill his oft-stated wish to lie alongside the grandmother who raised him in a mud-floor home.

Crowds of red-shirted "Chavistas" lined the streets for Friday's parade. Some wore headbands with the name of acting President Nicolas Maduro, named by Chavez as his preferred successor. He is running in an April 14 vote.

"Chavez, I promise you, my vote is for Maduro," read the headbands, repeating a slogan at pro-government rallies.

"I've got 500 and I'm going to sell them all easily. Chavez left Maduro in charge and he will be president," said Miguel Angel, 43, selling the headbands.

'PERVERSE PROSELYTISM'

The opposition, whose presidential candidate Henrique Capriles faces a tough battle to beat Maduro amid so much emotion over Chavez, say the government is mawkishly protracting the mourning and exploiting his coffin as a campaign prop.

Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor who views Brazil as his political and economic model, plans to begin campaigning around the country over the weekend.

"We urge those indiscriminately using the president's name for the capture of votes to halt this perverse method of electoral proselytism," said a communique from the opposition.

"Let's have a decent campaign, without unfair advantages or abuses of power."

That, many analysts say, looks unlikely given the government's vastly superior financial resources and pro-government supporters' dominance of major institutions.

Fighting back against that impression, however, the government says Capriles is a well-financed puppet of both Venezuela's powerful and wealthy elite and the U.S. government.

The deification of Chavez in death has taken surreal turns.

Maduro suggested that in heaven Chavez helped persuade Christ to choose a Latin American pope.

And the state oil company has been distributing a flyer titled "Chavez Crucified" amplifying the government's accusation that he may have been infected with cancer.

"Chavez is a Christ, he suffered for his people, he extinguished himself in their service, he suffered his own calvary, he was assassinated by imperialists, he died young ... and he performed miracles in life," it said.

That level of eulogy is drawing scorn in some circles for a man who, though loved by millions of Venezuela's poor for his welfare policies and down-to-earth style, was also hated as an authoritarian bully by large segments of society.

The election campaign has started in a nasty atmosphere, with both camps accusing each other of dirty tricks, and Capriles and Maduro landing highly personalized blows.

Photos of guns aimed at TVs showing Capriles have been circulating, while an opposition newspaper this week juxtaposed a photo of Maduro next to Hitler giving a Nazi salute.

Maduro, a 50-year-old former bus driver who is trumpeting his working-class roots like Chavez, has a solid lead over Capriles of more than 10 percentage points, according to two recent opinion polls. Both came before Chavez's death.

At stake in the upcoming election is not only the future of Chavez's leftist revolution but also the continuation of Venezuelan oil subsidies and other aid crucial to the economies of leftist allies around Latin America, from Cuba to Bolivia.

Venezuela boasts the world's largest oil reserves.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

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