www.cnn.com Friday, January 24, 2003 Posted: 12:45 PM EST (1745 GMT)

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN) -- A day after hundreds of thousands of people from across Venezuela crammed into a plaza in the capital in a massive show of support for the country's embattled president, opposition groups announced plans to hold their own demonstration over the weekend.

The counter-demonstration will start at 11 a.m. (10 a.m. EST) Saturday in the Los Ruices neighborhood of Caracas and end 24 hours later in the neighborhood of Chacaito, organizers said.

Thursday's turnout had a festive air that was marred late in the afternoon when a homeless man was killed by a pipe bomb that exploded inside a trash can through which he was rummaging.

The explosion happened next to the square packed with demonstrators who had gathered to hear a speech by President Hugo Chavez.

Fifteen bystanders were slightly wounded and reports that a second man died in a hospital of wounds from the blast proved false, police said.

At the podium, Chavez made no reference to the violence. He gazed at the crowd through binoculars and appeared elated at the turnout. "I have seen a lot of marches," he said. "But this is not a march. No, it's a flood of the people from all parts of the country. Long live the people! Long live the popular conscience!"

"Fascists and terrorists cannot hide!" read one of the signs held by the demonstrators; "The homeland is not for sale!" read another.

Some 5 million people participated in the demonstration, said one congressman. Independent estimates of the size of the crowd were not available.

Only government TV covers Thursday demonstration

The demonstration was intended to show support for Chavez, whose leftist regime has been the target of vehement, vocal, largely middle-class opponents. A general strike that began December 2, aimed at forcing him to step down or call for early elections, has crippled the country's economy.

Supporters of the president march through Caracas on Thursday before Chavez addresses the crowd.

Demonstrators waved aloft banners lambasting the news media, accusing them of not presenting both sides of the story. Owners of the nation's commercial television stations, who have supported the strike and opposed Chavez, stuck with regular programming Thursday. Only the government-owned television station covered the rally.

Thursday's demonstrations also marked the anniversary of the fall of Gen. Marcos Perez Jimenez, who was deposed on January 23, 1958.

Though his rule was followed by democratic governments, many Chavez supporters say the twice-elected president is the only one who has fought for the rights of the country's poor.

Thursday's demonstrations came a day after Venezuela's Supreme Court dealt a setback to the opposition by rejecting its motion to hold a non-binding referendum February 2 on Chavez's presidency.

Opposition groups had put forward a petition signed by 2 million people for the referendum. Chavez's government opposed the move, sending it to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the referendum would not be legal.

Oil refinery visit planned

Chavez was planning Friday to visit the oil refinery at El Palito, one of the nation's four largest, which Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said is back on line.

The general strike has set off a flight of capital from the country and crippled the country's ability to export oil. Before the strike, Venezuela was the world's fifth-largest exporter of oil, and supplied 12 percent of U.S. oil imports. That has been reduced to a fraction -- resulting in long lines at gas stations in Venezuela and reduced foreign reserves.

In an effort to stem the outflow of money, Venezuela's central bank Wednesday closed the foreign exchange market for five trading days.

The bolivar is down 24 percent since the strike began.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who won last year's Nobel Peace Prize, was to speak Friday with the Group of Friends of Venezuela in Washington. The group, which includes the United States, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Chile and Brazil, was created in Quito last week at the suggestion of Brazil's newly elected president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Carter has also met in Caracas this week with leaders of the Organization of American States, which has been brokering talks.

CNN Producer Penny Mannis and Journalist Ligimat Perez contributed to this story.

www.alertnet.org 24 Jan 2003 17:39

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Dissident Venezuelan oil workers said on Friday they would maintain a 54-day-old strike in the world's fifth largest oil exporter until the government agreed to early elections and a deal to return them to their jobs.

The strike has slashed oil exports to a quarter of pre-strike levels, threatening the OPEC member country with economic collapse.

"We agree to maintain the strike until we obtain guarantees of a solution to the country's crisis which includes elections and restoring (state oil giant) Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA)," strike leader Juan Fernandez told an assembly of PDVSA dissidents in Caracas.

Opposition leaders have insisted that any agreement on elections be tied to a decision to reincorporate thousands of striking employees who have been sacked by the government in its attempt to break the strike.

ogj.pennnet.com   By OGJ editors WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 24 -- The US remains vulnerable to oil supply shocks from Venezuela and other foreign suppliers because the nation still lacks a comprehensive energy policy, White House officials said.

US State Department officials said Thursday the political crisis in Venezuela was still "very tense" and that the "urgency of reaching a peaceful resolution remains."

"This is a long-term issue, but if 10 years ago, Congress and the administration had been able to work in a long-term way on energy, we wouldn't be in the spot we could be in today, with action on Venezuela, for example, driving up the price," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday.

Earlier this week oil prices temporarily moved above $35/bbl for the first time in 2 years before retreating to lower levels above $30/bbl. But more oil from key US allies, including Saudi Arabia, may keep market conditions in balance to avoid a Strategic Petroleum Reserve release, officials suggested.

"The President expressed his gratitude to OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and to Saudi Arabia for their increase in production," said Fleischer.

Longer-term, the US needs to have a blueprint so the country is better insulated against sudden supply shortages, he added.

"There are a variety of ways to approach this issue, including increased conservation, increased production, and increased diversification of supply. But it still remains an issue that the American people want people in Washington to deal with long-term," Fleischer said.

Congress debated but failed to pass a sweeping energy bill last year. This year key lawmakers, including Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, say they want to pass a comprehensive bill. But it is unclear whether there is enough interest by members to achieve that goal.

Venezuela update Members of the Organization of American States met Friday with US Sec. of State Colin Powell, hoping to move forward with a plan to end the impasse. Oil exports over the past 2 months have fallen by more than 50% because of striking oil workers seeking to oust populist President Hugo Chávez from power.

Earlier in the week, former President Jimmy Carter sought to broker a compromise by offering two options both generally supported by the Bush administration. One was for a constitutional amendment that would shorten terms of Venezuela's president and National Assembly, to be followed by elections. A second option called for a Venezuelan referendum in August, which could trigger presidential elections in September.

"We think these options offer both sides in Venezuela an excellent basis to craft a solution to the immediate impasse with international support for implementation of the agreement. So we'll see if they will pick those up," said Boucher. "We do think the government and the opposition should consider these options very carefully."

Similar options previously have been suggested by Chávez's opponents but not accepted by government officials.

EIA analysis An Energy Information Administration analysis said Thursday that even if additional oil imports from other countries begin to arrive, it is doubtful that, without near-normal levels of Venezuelan imports, US crude inventories can be maintained significantly above 270 million bbl with US refinery inputs remaining near 15 million b/d.

"One or the other clearly has to fall," EIA said. In a separate EIA report, it appeared that refinery inputs were declining while imports, largely from Saudi Arabia, were increasing.

Despite predictions from some analysts that inventories may slip by 3 million bbl, the US Department of Energy reported Thursday that US oil stocks grew by 1.5 million bbl last week, reaching 273.8 million bbl. The American Petroleum Institute later reported a smaller increase of 181,000 bbl to 272.4 million bbl for the same period.

Based on DOE figures, total US commercial petroleum inventories last week were 44.1 million bbl below the 5-year average. "In other words, relative to a normal pattern, the US market tightened at a rate of 1 million b/d," said Paul Horsnell, head of energy research for JP Morgan Chase & Co., London (OGJ Online, Jan. 23, 2003).