Venezuelan hunger striker dies after Chavez protest

CARACAS — A Venezuelan farmer who held a months-long hunger strike to protest President Hugo Chavez's policies of land nationalization has died at a military hospital, his relatives said."Today, August 30, 2001, the exhausted body of husband and father Franklin Brito stopped breathing," his family said in a statement released to Venezuelan media, calling his death a "symbol" for the Venezuelan people in their struggle for "freedom."Doctors informed Brito's wife of his death on Monday, apparently due to a heart attack, according to El Universal newspaper's website.The government seized Briton's lands in the southern state of Bolivar in 2005, prompting Brito to initiate his first hunger strike.The order was revoked in late 2009 and Brito temporarily halted his strike.But the farmer, who appeared emaciated in recent photographs distributed online, renewed his strike shortly thereafter, alleging that authorities had failed to compensate him or deliver the legal paperwork canceling the seizure."Franklin Brito's body became a symbol for all struck by the arrogance of power, for those offended by the arrogance of the rulers," the family said in its statement.Last year, Chavez's government redistributed 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of farmland that was previously in private hands. Chavez says the policy aims to reverse long-standing injustice in his country.Brito's case gained renewed attention in recent weeks in Venezuela and several protests were held in solidarity with him and his family.Held since early this year at the military hospital of Caracas, Brito was receiving assistance from the Red Cross but was very weak due to his prolonged hunger and thirst strike.A little over a week ago, Brito's daughter Angela said her father had collapsed and was placed on an IV drip after suffering from respiratory failure, generalized infection, pneumonia and damage to vital organs."My father's health deteriorated further, even though he had agreed to be administered the necessary medicines, including hydration and

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