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The Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, has moved swiftly to try to contain the political fallout from a bitter dispute with his ex-wife, announcing he will withdraw a custody suit he had filed against her last week.
The hostilities between Chavez and Marisabel Rodriguez have been gripping Venezuela for
days. They include claims that he has failed to pay child support for the daughter they had together, Rosines, before divorcing four years ago. She has also complained of feeling physically threatened by his supporters.
In a television appearance on Monday, Chavez appeared to go into uncharacteristic retreat, agreeing to withdraw the lawsuit. "I will not allow them to put my daughter in the middle of a spectacle," he said. "So I have decided to quit this action."
His calculation is in part political. Rodriguez has emerged as a potentially powerful foe of the President, notably last year when she went on the record urging the country to oppose plans for a sweeping reform of the constitution which would have allowed him to keep running for President indefinitely. Her move was a sting to Chavez, not least because when voting day came, his proposals were defeated in a referendum. More recently, however, Rodriguez has put herself forward as a candidate for mayor of Barquisimeto, the city where she now lives.
While Chavez has remained single, Rodriguez, 43, has moved on. Last year she married Sandro Garcia, a tennis instructor, in Barquisimeto. It was their engagement that broke the peace with her ex-husband, according to an interview last month with Rodriguez in the popular gossip magazine, Caras. "He told me, 'You know what you're doing,"' the former first lady recalled. Immediately afterwards, her two government vehicles were taken from her.
Any pretence of civility vanished after the filing of the custody lawsuit by Chavez. Rodriguez went public with a string of allegations, including that he was a poor father. "Under the divorce agreement he is supposed to deposit a certain amount," she said. "I have everything necessary to demonstrate that he has never made a deposit."
The publicity, if it is not contained soon, could be politically toxic for Chavez.
At a subsequent news conference, Rodriguez went much further, complaining that she felt physically imperilled. "I could be attacked at any time by these hordes he has on the street," she suggested. "I declare myself a victim of violence, harassment and persecution on the part of the President."
- INDEPENDENT