Venezuela police scramble to squash pumpkin threat

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan security services scrambled on Monday to tackle a new threat on the streets of Caracas: Halloween-style pumpkins carrying messages of rebellion against President Hugo Chavez.

Local media showed heavily armed police and bomb experts surrounding one orange squash with a Halloween face and covered with stickers; others sprouted cables and wires making authorities wary they could be home-made explosives.

"We took preventative measures, as this could have been someone with another intention or an artifact that could have harmed someone," Investigative police division commissioner Jesus Gonzalez told local radio.

The pumpkins were found outside the state petrochemical company Pequiven and the offices of Chavez's political party with references to a constitutional article about civil resistance, local media reported. Chavez opponents often refer to Article 350 when calling for support of street protests.

The pumpkin alert came just weeks after authorities found scores of paper skeletons with anti-Chavez messages hanging from bridges and lampposts in Caracas. Police described them as a "Machiavellian" attempt to cause unrest.

Since surviving a 2002 coup, Chavez has often accused his opponents of working with Washington to topple his government or kill him. He faced months of protests by opponents who say he has dragged Venezuela towards Cuba-style communism.

Venezuela returned to relative political calm after Chavez won an August 2004 referendum and the former army paratrooper has since promised to promote a self-described socialist revolution in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

- REUTERS