A Venezuelan general says from his hide-out that he remains committed to the overthrow of President Hugo Chávez.

BY PHIL GUNSON
Special to The Herald

CARACAS - Five months after going into hiding, one of Venezuela's most wanted men, retired Gen. Felipe Rodríguez -- alias El Cuervo, the crow -- claims he has formed a clandestine group seeking the overthrow of President Hugo Chávez and the installation of a military-civilian transition government.

However, in a two-hour interview conducted in one of his hide-outs, the general denied government charges that he or the organization -- Comandos de la Libertad, or the Freedom Commandos -- was behind the bombs that exploded in February 2003 at the Colombian Consulate and a Spanish Embassy annex in the Venezuelan capital.

And he expressed concern over two members of his group, Lts. Germán Varela and José Antonio Colina, who sought asylum in the United States and are being held at Krome detention center in West Miami-Dade.

An arrest warrant for Rodríguez, Varela and Colina was issued in November by a judge in Caracas. The Chávez government is seeking the extradition of Varela and Colina from the United States.

''I spoke with one of them,'' the general told The Herald, ``and he told me they were very worried because they thought they would be deported.''

However, the general expressed confidence in the U.S. justice system.

''I sincerely doubt that the U.S. courts or the U.S. government would be capable of agreeing to a deportation, with all that's going on [in Venezuela] right now,'' he said.

The U.S. Embassy declined to comment on the Varela and Colina case, saying it was a judicial matter.

Rodríguez held a number of senior positions in the National Guard before defecting to the opposition, including head of intelligence and chief of the general staff. He is an electronic engineer and a communications specialist.

The last post he held in the armed forces was as head of the Venezuelan war college, known as IAEDEN.

In addition to charges relating to last year's bombings, he is also wanted in the torture and murder of three soldiers linked to the Plaza Altamira, a Caracas square that until December was the focus of a protest by about 150 dissident members of the armed forces. He as in charge of security at the square.

The Freedom Commandos, just one of several groups the general claims are working to provoke a military-civilian uprising, allegedly comprise 10-person ''cells'' spread across Venezuela. They are said to have been among those setting up burning barricades during late February and early March protests against the government.

Rodríguez admits that his recruits, all civilians, ''are not yet trained for effective civil resistance,'' and are acting more out of ''primitive instincts'' than preparation. He claims 25 to 30 of the original 150 or so military dissidents involved in the Plaza Altamira protest are actively linked to the underground network.

Former National Guard Gen. Oscar Márquez, a close colleague of Rodríguez since their days in the military academy, says El Cuervo's words should be taken seriously.

''I've had my differences with him,'' he said, adding, ''I wouldn't go underground, because that would be to cross a red line. Violence begets violence.'' But he said Rodríguez was a man of his word.

''If that's what he told you, you have to believe him,'' Márquez said. ``If he's gone underground I imagine he's not playing marbles.''