CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- The Venezuelan businessman who gained
                 asylum in Colombia to avoid rebellion charges at home for briefly replacing
                 President Hugo Chavez in an April coup said on Friday he left his country to
                 escape a biased trial and to protect his life.

                 In his first public statement since he flew to Colombia on Wednesday, Pedro
                 Carmona, 61, thanked the Colombian government for granting his asylum request in
                 a decision also accepted by Venezuela. He is expected to travel on to a third
                 country.

                 "I leave my country with the pain of going into exile as someone who is politically
                 persecuted," he said in letter sent from Colombia to Venezuelan media.

                 Carmona, the former head of Venezuela's leading business association
                 Fedecamaras, was made president for a day during the April 11-14 coup by rebel
                 generals and admirals who briefly toppled left-wing former paratrooper Chavez.

                 Chavez, who has ruled since 1998, was later restored by loyal troops and
                 supporters after several days of street violence and looting in which more than 60
                 people were killed.

                 Carmona's letter was read by a presenter on the private Venezuelan TV channel
                 Globovision hours before Chavez was due to give testimony to members of a
                 parliamentary inquiry commission about his experience during the April coup.
                 Anti-Chavez opposition deputies said they would boycott his testimony.

                 Amid fears of future conflict, supporters and foes of the president are locked in a
                 fierce debate over who to blame for the killings in the April putsch, which shocked
                 the world and rocked investor confidence in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

                 In his letter, Carmona accused the Chavez government of trying to short-cut legal
                 procedures to send him to jail.

                 "The case against me was politically manipulated. I was sentenced without a trial
                 for the crime of rebellion, being the only civilian involved," he said. At least six
                 military officers are also facing rebellion accusations.

                 In fact, Carmona had not been charged or sentenced. But, following a Venezuelan
                 judge's order that he await trial in jail, he eluded police and escaped from house
                 arrest in Caracas May 23 and sought asylum at the Colombian ambassador's home.

                 "There were no guarantees for my physical safety in jail," he said.

                 The senior military officers who briefly installed Carmona in power have testified to
                 parliament that they rebelled against Chavez because he ordered armed supporters,
                 troops and tanks to counter a huge anti-government march April 11.

                 At least 17 people were killed when gunmen opened fire on the anti-Chavez march
                 near the presidential palace.

                 In a conflicting version, Chavez and his aides say anti-government gunmen started
                 the shooting as part of a coup plan carefully prepared and executed by a group of
                 right-wing military and civilian plotters, who included Carmona.

                 In his letter, Carmona denied this accusation.

                 "I trust that, despite efforts to do so, it won't be possible to fabricate the idea of a
                 conspiracy, coup or rebellion to cover up the genocide of April 11," he said.

                 Repeating his previous defense, he said he had only agreed to lead an interim
                 government to fill what he called a "power vacuum" created after Chavez's top
                 military chief had announced in public that the president had resigned.

                 Chavez, who was held in custody for 48 hours by the rebel officers, later denied
                 that he had ever resigned.

                    Copyright 2002 Reuters.