Bombs Strike Two Foreign Missions in Venezuela

Two bombs tore into Spanish and Colombian diplomatic missions here in Venezuela’s capital on Tuesday, injuring five people just 48 hours after President Hugo Chavez accused the two nations of meddling in his country’s political crisis.

Three people, including a 4-year-old girl, were slightly wounded when the blast near the Colombian Consulate in Caracas sprayed shards of debris and ripped off the building’s steel and glass facade about 2:15 a.m.

Fragments from a smaller explosion minutes earlier at the nearby Spanish Embassy cooperation office hurt two people, authorities said. None of the injuries were serious.

“If this had been at 2 in the afternoon instead of at 2 in the morning, we would have had a lot of dead,” Chacao district Mayor Leopoldo Lopez said.

No one claimed responsibility for the blasts, but leaflets supporting Chavez’s “Bolivarian revolution,” a political movement loosely based on the writings of 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar, were found outside both missions. Chavez’s government dismissed the papers as a “ridiculous” plant and said no one should jump to conclusions.

“We will find those responsible for this crime,” Deputy Foreign Minister Arevalo Mendez vowed. “We believe this is about a plan to create problems between Venezuela and two amicable nations.”

Chavez, whose self-styled “revolution” promises to ease poverty, on Sunday accused Spain and the U.S. of siding with his enemies and warned Colombia that he might break off diplomatic ties over accusations that he met with that country’s Marxist rebels.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip T. Reeker condemned the bombings, saying they underscored the need for all sides to honor a Feb. 18 nonviolence pledge, refrain from “confrontational rhetoric” and create a truth commission to investigate violent incidents.

“We note that those bombs follow some sharp verbal attacks by President Chavez on the international community, as well as individual Venezuelans and institutions,” Reeker said.