www.sfgate.com FABIOLA SANCHEZ, Associated Press Writer Tuesday, January 14, 2003

(01-14) 20:44 PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --

Soldiers loyal to President Hugo Chavez seized submachine guns and shotguns from Caracas' police department Tuesday in what the opposition mayor called a bid to undermine him.

Federal interference in the capital's police department is one reason Venezuela's opposition has staged a strike -- now in its 44th day -- demanding early elections. Tuesday's raids stoked already heated tensions in this polarized nation.

Greater Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena said the weapons seizure stripped police of their ability to control street protests that have erupted almost daily since the strike began Dec. 2. Five people have died in strike-related demonstrations.

A smaller district police force used tear gas Tuesday to separate pro- and anti-Chavez protesters. Officials said two protesters were injured.

Strike leader Manuel Cova said opponents would "strengthen the struggle to topple" Chavez in response to the raids.

"This demonstrates the antidemocratic and authoritarian way in which this government acts," said Cova, leader of the Venezuelan Workers Confederation, the country's largest labor union.

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel vowed there would be no early elections until a possible referendum in August, halfway into Chavez's six-year term. Opponents insist Venezuela is too unstable to wait that long.

"Chavez opponents must get it out of their heads that the way out is ... for Chavez to go," Rangel told foreign reporters. "That proposal is profoundly undemocratic."

Rangel said the weapons seizure was part of an effort to make police answer for alleged abuses against Chavez demonstrators. The government accuses police of killing two Chavez supporters during a melee two weeks ago that involved Chavez followers, opponents and security forces.

"The metropolitan police cannot be above the law, above the executive, above citizens," Rangel told foreign reporters. "We are trying to make them answer to the law. That's why we seized their equipment and weapons."

Troops searched several police stations at dawn, confiscating submachine guns and 12-gauge shotguns used to fire rubber bullets and tear gas, said Cmdr. Freddy Torres, the department's legal consultant. Officers were allowed to keep their standard-issue .38-caliber pistols. It was not clear how long the seizure would last.

Chavez ordered troops to take control of the force in November, but the Supreme Court ordered it restored to Pena last month.

Chavez is trying to break a strike that has paralyzed Venezuela's crucial oil industry and cost the government an estimated $4 billion. He has warned he might send troops to seize food production plants that are participating in the strike.

Called to press Chavez into accepting a nonbinding referendum on his rule, the strike has depleted many Caracas supermarkets of basics like milk, flour and bottled water. People spend hours in lines at service stations and at banks open only three hours a day. Many medicines are no longer are available in pharmacies.

Rangel said the strike was weak outside of Caracas -- one reason the government has been able to survive. "Is there a country on Earth that can withstand a strike for 44 days? I don't think so," the vice president said.

With hopes of helping resolve the dispute, former President Jimmy Carter plans to visit Caracas on Jan. 20 to observe the crisis, the Atlanta-based Carter Center announced.

Carter, who just won the Nobel Peace Prize, will consult with Cesar Gaviria, secretary general of the Organization of American States, who has been mediating talks between the two sides, the center said.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he plans to meet Chavez Thursday when he comes to the United Nations to hand over the chairmanship of the Group of 77, an organization of mainly developing nations. Annan said he will discuss with Chavez "how one can intensify the mediation efforts ... to calm the situation and return it to normalcy."

"He knows that I believe that one should use constitutional democratic means to resolve this issue and that is my message not only to him but to the opposition," the secretary-general said.

Venezuela's oil industry provides half of government revenue and 80 percent of export revenue. With the strike, about 30,000 of 40,000 workers in the state oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., are off the job.

Venezuela was the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and a key supplier to the United States, and the U.S. Energy Department has said the crisis could cause American motorists to pay up to $1.54 per gallon of gasoline by spring.

Rangel said oil production will reach 1.5 million barrels a day next week -- about half pre-strike output. Currently, production is 800,000 barrels a day according the government, 400,000 according to striking executives fired by Chavez.

The president has vowed to restructure the oil monopoly and reduce bureaucracy at its Caracas headquarters, a hotbed of dissent.

Mayor Pena said Tuesday's police raids would force officers to stop patrolling many dangerous neighborhoods. Venezuela's crime rate rose 44 percent last year, the government says, partly because of a sharp rise in robberies.

"There is an escalation here leading to a dictatorship," Pena said. "The lives of the 5 million citizens who inhabit this city are in danger."

Also Tuesday, seven people died and four were burned when improperly stored gasoline exploded in western Venezuela on Tuesday. Officials said they didn't know what caused three containers of gas to explode.

Fuel shortages caused by the strike have prompted many Venezuelans to stockpile gasoline using containers unfit for such purposes. Warnings by state authorities against inappropriate storage and transportation of gasoline have been largely ignored by the population.

reuters.com Tue January 14, 2003 01:09 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday urged Venezuelans reeling from a crippling strike to use only lawful means to resolve their differences and said he wanted to help calm the situation.

"I will be seeing President Hugo Chavez here on Thursday ... and I hope to be able to discuss with him the developments in Venezuela, and how one can intensify the mediation efforts, to calm the situation and return it to normalcy," Annan said.

"I have had the chance of speaking to him several times on the phone, and he knows I believe one should use constitutional and democratic means to resolve this issue, and this is my message not only to him, but to the opposition," Annan told a news conference.

An opposition strike, started on Dec. 2, has deeply shaken the government and Venezuela's oil industry, stoking tensions between Chavez and his political foes, who are demanding he resign and call immediate elections.

Chavez, who survived a brief coup in April, has rejected demands for an early vote.

The shutdown has slashed Venezuela's oil exports, causing widespread domestic fuel and food shortages and jolting world energy markets.

Notorious on Wall Street for his failed economic policies and anti-capitalist rhetoric, Chavez was elected in 1998 vowing to wrest control from the country's corrupt elite and enact reforms to help the poor.

But opposition has grown amid charges the president wants to establish a Cuban-style authoritarian state.

Chavez was officially coming to U.N. headquarters to attend ceremonies turning over Venezuela's leadership of the "Group of 77" developing nations to Morocco for 2003. The group has 134 members.

He was due to hold a news conference after his talks with Annan.

www.austin360.com By STEPHEN IXER Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)--Soldiers loyal to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez seized heavy weapons and anti-riot equipment Tuesday from Caracas' police force, which the government accused of siding with Chavez's opponents.

Critics called the move another attempt by Chavez to weaken Greater Caracas Mayor Alfredo Pena, one of Chavez's most vocal critics. Chavez insists the 9,000-strong Caracas police force, which reports to Pena, routinely suppresses pro-government demonstrations.

Troops searched several police stations at dawn Tuesday, confiscating submachine guns as well as .12-caliber rifles used to fire rubber bullets and tear gas, said Cmdr. Freddy Torres, the department's legal consultant. Officers were allowed to keep their standard issue .38-caliber pistols.

Police said they were still determining the total number of weapons seized. A Defense Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the confiscations.

The seizure could raise tensions in a 44-day-old general strike aimed at ousting Chavez, which has been marked by almost daily street protests, including clashes between Chavez supporters and opponents.

We don't understand this action,'' police chief Henry Vivas told Union Radio. This leaves us at a tremendous disadvantage against criminals. Instead of disarming criminals, they disarm the police. It's outrageous.'' Also seized was anti-riot equipment like tear gas canisters and rubber bullets.

The weapons raids came hours after Chavez's government restored Pena's authority over the police on Monday, Torres said.

Chavez ordered the military to take control of the police department in November, arguing police brutally repressed his supporters during protests. Pena says Chavez sympathizers attack police and that crime has risen since the military took control.

Vivas said the confiscation violated a Supreme Court ruling ordering the government to return the force to the mayor's control.

The police cannot act like protectors of a political side,'' Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel told foreign reporters Tuesday. It's not right that each time (police) go out on the streets, it's to create victims.''

Rangel would not provide details on the raids.

Carlos Guerra, commander of a police station in a poor western Caracas precinct, said about 40 armed National Guard soldiers seized 62 submachine guns and 132 ammunition magazines from his station.

We're left defenseless against the criminals,'' Guerra said. Officers can't offer the same protection when we've only got revolvers and criminals have automatic weapons. If there is a bank robbery there's not much we can do.''

In 2002, there were more than 9,000 homicides in Venezuela, up from almost 8,000 in 2001, according to federal police figures. Figures for Caracas were not immediately available.

The raid comes as Chavez has vowed to defeat the strike aimed at forcing him from power, which has almost paralyzed Venezuela's crucial oil industry. He threatened last week to order troops to seize control of food plants participating in the stoppage.

On Monday, Energy and Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez called the walkout an act of ``terrorism'' that has cost the country $4 billion.

``All these acts of terrorism have brought tremendous consequences for the nation,'' Ramirez said in a televised address.

Once the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, Venezuela has had to pay $105 million to import more than 2 million barrels of gasoline since the general strike began Dec. 2, Ramirez said.

Oil provides half of government revenue and 80 percent of export earnings. The walkout is strongest in state oil monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., where 30,000 of 40,000 workers are off the job.

Chavez has fought back by firing at least 1,000 white-collar workers at PDVSA.

Ramirez said daily oil production now surpasses 800,000 barrels. Striking oil executives fired by Chavez say output is just over 400,000 barrels a day. Before the strike, production was up to 3 million barrels a day.

Some strike leaders were considering asking small businesses _ who say they cannot sustain losses much longer--to resume work, together with medical workers and teachers, hoping to avoid a popular backlash.

Most private schools and some public schools have been closed since the strike started. Hospital workers supporting the strike are only attending emergencies. Many supermarkets have run out of milk and are running low on staples such as flour and drinking water. Many medicines no longer are available at pharmacies.

William Davila, another Democratic Coordinator leader, said the food industry also should be given the freedom to ensure basic supplies.

But Davila said any easing of the strike should depend on a forthcoming Supreme Court ruling on the legality of a nonbinding referendum on Chavez's rule sought by the strikers.

Chavez says the nonbinding vote would be unconstitutional. His presidency runs until January 2007, and Venezuela's constitution says a binding referendum may be held halfway into his six-year term, or August.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 01.14.03, 9:35 AM ET

NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - NYMEX crude oil futures were expected to push higher at the open Tuesday after the chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said his teams had found evidence of Iraqi smuggling in violation of U.N. resolutions.

"The comments by Blix came in after there was some softening because of Mexico and OPEC's production increases," said a London-based oil trader.

NYMEX February crude was called 50 cents to 60 cents higher after ending overnight ACCESS trading 56 cents to the upside at $32.82 a barrel, trading $31.88 to $32.85.

In London at 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT), the February Brent crude contract was 66 cents higher at $30.86 per barrel.

Blix, in a BBC interview broadcast late Monday, said his teams in Iraq have uncovered weapons-related smuggling but it was unclear if the goods were linked to weapons of mass destruction. "There has been a considerable amount of import in the weapons sector which clearly is smuggling, and in violation, and they are in fact large quantities," Blix said.

Adding fuel to the bullish sentiment were remarks from Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Tuesday stating that war on Iraq might not need a new U.N. resolution.

Meanwhile Baghdad said it had already come clean about arms programs and that its president would fight to the bitter end.

NYMEX oil prices had dipped in electronic trading when Sunday's OPEC decision to raise crude output by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) to compensate for losses from the Venezuelan strike was followed by a Mexico promise to increase crude exports by 120,000 bpd to 1.88 million bpd.

With the Venezuela general strike in its 44th day, oil traders will decide the likelihood that mediation by the United Nations and the United States might help to break the deadlock between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and opposition leaders. Chavez will hold talks with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday.

Frigid temperatures in the U.S. northeast, with the six- to 10-day forecast calling for below normal readings, should continue to support heating oil futures.

The next round of U.S. oil inventory data, due out Wednesday morning, will provide a fresh snapshot of the Venezuela strike's effect on U.S. oil supplies, already hovering at historic lows.

NYMEX February heating oil is expected to open 1.25 cents to 1.50 cents higher after ending ACCESS trade up 1.61 cents at 89.99 cents a gallon, the overnight high.

NYMEX February gasoline is expected to open 1.00 cent to 1.25 cents higher after ending ACCESS trade up 1.20 cents at 91.10 cents a gallon, also the overnight high.

From a correspondent in Caracas January 15, 2003

VENEZUELA'S crippling strike has entered its seventh week amid renewed violence and warnings by President Hugo Chavez he would strengthen military efforts to end the action that has throttled the vital oil industry. In what has become an almost daily routine, police and National Guard troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters in Caracas and the country's second largest city, Maracaibo.

Yesterday it was Chavez supporters who were targeted by security forces - in Caracas after they hurled rocks at government opponents, injuring at least two people, and in Maracaibo as they tried to stage a protest outside the governor's offices.

On Monday troops dispersed thousands of anti-government protesters who gathered outside a military base in Caracas to back the strike, which is aimed at forcing Mr Chavez from office.

While protesters taunted soldiers blocking access to the army installations, the opposition has been trying to court the armed forces.