By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service

CARACAS, Venezuela

The headline above the 20-line letter to the editor would be provocative in any country but particularly in macho Latin America: "Generals in Panties." And provoke it
did, landing the author in a military jail cell and turning the revolution of elected President Hugo Chavez in a direction that has alarmed human rights advocates and
some cabinet members.

The letter, written by law professor Pablo Aure, was published Jan. 3 in the influential newspaper El Nacional. Calling the armed forces "castrated and servile," Aure
ridiculed military leaders for accepting too easily the new civic duties Chavez has assigned them.

The letter was published as packages containing women's underwear were mysteriously turning up in the mailboxes of more than 100 senior and mid-level officers,
urging them to "act in an organized and effective manner" against Chavez.

Armed military police arrested Aure Jan. 8 at his home in Valencia, about two hours' drive west of here. A civilian, he has been charged under military law with
insulting the armed forces, a crime carrying a jail sentence of three to eight years.

Human rights groups said the charge violates Venezuela's new constitution and international press conventions that Venezuela has signed, but the defense minister has
endorsed the arrest.

"What this man wrote was not criticism, it was an insult," said Gen. Ismael Hurtado Soucre, the minister, in a nationally televised news conference during which he
displayed some of the offending women's underwear. "We are very clear regarding our duty and rights. . . . He has gone too far."

The episode may resemble farce, but diplomats and political analysts said it is a sign of Chavez's increasing hostility toward dissent as his "social revolution"
approaches its second anniversary next month. In that time, Chavez, a cashiered army colonel who sometimes wears a military uniform, has relied on referendums to
reshape politics in Venezuela, the third largest oil supplier to the United States, and emerged as a leading voice against U.S. policy in the troubled Andean region.

But until now his reaction to criticism has been rhetorical, carried mostly on his Sunday radio show and frequent televised addresses. The Organization of American
States has said the Aure case marks a dubious milestone for the Chavez government: the first time anyone has been arrested for expressing an opinion during this
administration.

"The case is incredible -- someone thrown in jail for writing a letter and tried by a military judge," said Santiago A. Canton, the OAS representative for freedom of
expression.

Moreover, diplomats and political analysts say, the swift military reaction reveals widespread restlessness within the 70,000-member armed forces, the institution that
is both Chavez's most important supporter and the biggest threat to his leadership.

The president has remained uncharacteristically silent about Aure's arrest, but he has renewed his attack on the national media. He spent much of his four-hour radio
show on Jan. 14 criticizing the media for conspiring against him and called the armed forces the "most beloved institution in Latin America and in Venezuela."

Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel has criticized Aure's arrest, but diplomats and political analysts said that any such talk from Chavez would risk losing the broad
support he enjoys in the military's ranks.

Since taking office, Chavez has tapped dozens of officers to fill civilian jobs, including the leadership of Venezuela's two most important oil companies. But he has
also angered many officers in the middle and lower ranks by drawing the military more directly into Venezuela's political arena. Most notably, he has extended
indefinitely Plan Bolivar 2000, a civil works program that assigns soldiers to paint schools, sell produce and build public housing, among other duties outside their
traditional role.

The packages containing women's underwear, a videotape and a letter that Hurtado said "incited military officers to break the law" were sent to 140 officers, most
from the middle ranks where Venezuela's past coups have developed. Chavez himself was a lieutenant colonel when he joined a plot against then-President Carlos
Andres Perez. The resulting coup failed, but launched Chavez's political career.

Unless the Supreme Court decides that the military code conflicts with Venezuela's constitution, ratified by voters in 1999, Aure will face a court-martial.

He spent the night of Jan. 8 in a cell at military intelligence headquarters in Caracas, naked and suffering from chronic hypertension, after 11 Military Intelligence
police officers arrested him that afternoon.

They also seized personal files and his computer. Two days later he was released for medical reasons, but the charge is pending. Aure, 39, said he has no ties to the
"subversives" who sent the underwear.

"I was only trying to reflect my imagination that this president has had his generals dressed in women's clothes," said Aure, who is writing a novel about Venezuelan
politics. "But they have made a mistake. This is a free country and I will make sure that they pay for this."

                                                   © 2001