Vocal Officer in Venezuela Briefly Held

An air force colonel made a daring call for the resignation of President Hugo Chavez on Thursday and was subsequently arrested by military police. But he was quickly freed under pressure of a noisy citizen protest.

Hundreds of people cheered, sang the national anthem and chanted “Chavez out!” as Col. Pedro Soto, wearing his uniform, stood atop a car in Caracas’ Altamira Plaza and waved the red, yellow and blue Venezuelan flag after his release.

It was the second anti-Chavez protest this week. On Monday, hundreds protested Chavez’s celebration of the 10th anniversary of his attempted coup against then-President Carlos Andres Perez.

Soto’s call for Chavez to resign was the strongest sign yet of growing resentment among the military toward Chavez. Soto made his remarks at a forum on press freedom.

“This is not a democratic government,” Soto said. “We are here to tell the president that freedom of expression is one of the most important things . . . and no one is going to take it away from us. It cannot be that the president is thinking we elected him to be the owner of Venezuela.”

The government dismissed Soto’s remarks as sour grapes for not having been promoted. But Soto said he was also speaking for others.

A weekend communique published by a group claiming to represent 3,400 soldiers lambasted the president. The government dismissed it as a hoax.