02/24/2008
Venezuelan authorities promised to catch the people who hurled a tear gas canister into the Spanish Embassy and spray-painted slogans in favor of a Basque separatist group on its walls.
Unidentified vandals pulled up to the embassy Friday on motorcycles and spray-painted the insignia the group ETA and slogans including "stop the repression" and "resistance of the Basque people". They also threw a tear gas canister inside the embassy compound, prompting security guards to flee, the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal reported.
The Venezuelan government issued a statement Friday night condemning it as a "disgraceful and cowardly act" and promising to catch and punish those responsible.
The vandals also reportedly scattered cardboard figures representing Spanish King Juan Carlos, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Venezuelan critics of President Hugo Chavez.
Police said they also found pamphlets of pro-Chavez groups scattered on the ground. Chavez has had tense relations with Spain since the king told him to "shut up" during a summit meeting in November in Chile. But the Venezuelan government said the vandalism was carried out by "tiny minority groups" whose positions are not shared by the government.
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