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President Hugo Chavez has threatened to revoke the broadcasting licences of Venezuela's main television and radio stations, accusing them of supporting opposition efforts to overthrow him through a six-week-old strike. The threat came as Venezuelan troops fired teargas to drive back tens of thousands of anti-government protesters.

Yesterday Mr Chavez said the stations were abusing their power by constantly broadcasting opposition advertisements promoting the strike.

The strike has dried up oil revenue in the world's fifth biggest oil exporting country but hasn't rattled the President's resolve to stay in power.

Venezuela's main TV stations have not broadcast any advertisements during the strike except the opposition ads.

Media owners have said they adopted that stance because Mr Chavez incited his supporters to attack reporters.

The oil producers' organisation OPEC has agreed to increase production to try to stabilise the price of oil.

www.greenbaynewschron.com By Joe Knaapen For The News-Chronicle

The American Dream - a way of life based on individual freedom, religious faith and free enterprise - is alive and well ... in Venezuela.

The sounds of freedom resound throughout the South American country every night when average people protest against an ungodly government by banging pots and pans for hours into the night.

Sounds of freedom exploded more often as 2002 ticked into 2003 when a general strike shut down the economic system in Venezuela.

"Imagine a country that totally stopped working for a month," said Peter Blanco, an independent business owner from Venezuela. "I live in a country where you can't dream about owning a Jaguar or Mercedes. You need to put food on the table."

Speaking on leadership at a recent convention in Atlanta, Blanco described how last year's protest against the government of President Hugo Chavez led to the current protests to force the president out of office. A general strike in December cut oil production in the world's fourth-largest oil-producing country by 90 percent.

"Eighty-two percent of the people don't want the government" of Chavez because of its corruption and ties to Fidel Castro in Cuba and Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Blanco said. There are indications aspects of the political turmoil stem from international terrorists - possibly a tie to al-Qaida - and drug-running guerrillas on the border with Columbia, Blanco said.

"We have learned from history that Cuba does not have the solution," he said. More important for the audience of business leaders - including several from Door County - was Blanco's message for people in other parts of the world, especially the United States, to guard their freedom.

"Don't be complacent; don't give up your freedom. Your country needs to get stronger," Blanco said.

The alternative, he said, was for complacency to erode into tyranny with the loss of individual freedoms taken for granted in the United States.

"We had our freedom, but we got complacent. We lost it," Blanco said. "Now the whole country has regained its political interest. Imagine a peaceful march held by 2.5 million people."

A series of coups and coup attempts in the last decade upset the stability of the South American country that is home to about 25 million people.

Blanco said the United States should relearn from the situation in Venezuela about how precious are its freedoms and how delicate is the balance that prevents complacency from dismantling free institutions.

The United States remains unique in the world with its political and economic system based on the motto of "In God We Trust" and pledge to a flag that unites the nation "under God," Blanco said.

By contrast, he continued, political leaders in Venezuela have "never been godly," and until godly leaders step forward, the country will struggle with corruption. But, Blanco said, "don't feel bad for us; that is our battle."

When the conference ended, Blanco said he was "going home" to Venezuela and would be "in every march - pray for us."

Most of the details described by Blanco can be verified easily on Internet sites as diverse as the United State Central Intelligence Agency and the World Travel Guide.

But the personal message delivered by Blanco and his wife brought the threat of the political retaliation to a personal, immediate level. From television sets in the conference center, news broadcasts displayed protests in Venezuela even as Blanco was speaking.

Blanco learned the basic principles of being an American as a student at Charleston (S.C.) Southern University in the 1990s. His dream at the time was to play major league baseball. Blanco could bat well enough to earn letters all four years of college, but his arm strength wasn't what the pros wanted in a third baseman, so he ventured into the world of business.

Returning to Venezuela, Blanco began establishing his business and recruited the woman who became his wife. Marjorie Blanco knows the political situation from a different point of view: Her father was one of the few military officers who refused to go along with Chavez during an attempted coup in 1992 and his successful takeover in 1997. As a result, her father had to be secreted out of the country, and she is reluctant to discuss details about her family.

Despite the risks, Mrs. Blanco stood by her husband as he spoke out against the tyranny of the Venezuelan government.

"We'd be lying to our group if we just ran away," she said. "We went out in a peaceful protest a year ago, April 11, 2002, and got shot at by government troops."

Blanco said he wouldn't have known how much he and his countrymen had lost if he hadn't been exposed to principles of freedom while studying in the United States.

The key to those freedoms, Blanco reminded his audience, was leaders who linked their lives and decisions to God.

"We have to stop putting our trust in human beings and look to God," Blanco said.

www.washingtonpost.com Reuters Monday, January 13, 2003; Page A16

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan. 12 -- Venezuelan troops fired tear gas today to disperse tens of thousands of protesters as President Hugo Chavez ordered a crackdown against a six-week-old opposition strike that is bleeding the economy.

Chavez warned opponents he would not let them disrupt schools, banks or food supplies with the strike, which has already crippled shipments by the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

"They want to break us economically. They are not going to do it. I swear it by God and my mother," Chavez said during his weekly television and radio show.

During his broadcast, Chavez signed a decree creating a special government commission to combat a tax rebellion announced by opposition leaders. By urging Venezuelans not to pay taxes, the strikers hope to cut government revenue already drained by the oil strike.

The president, elected in 1998, said the strike was costing the country tens of millions of dollars a day. Chavez, who has already fired 2,000 striking state oil employees, repeated threats to send troops to take over private factories and warehouses if they hoarded food supplies.

He also threatened to revoke the broadcasting licenses of private TV stations that criticize his rule. He described their hostile programming as "worse than an atomic bomb."

www.guardian.co.uk Monday January 13, 2003 3:50 AM

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Soldiers lobbed tear gas at tens of thousands of Venezuelans marching on a park near a military base to demand the armed forces' support in the ongoing strike against President Hugo Chavez. Nineteen people were injured, including one photographer who was hit by rubber bullets.

Opposition protesters regrouped as the gas clouds lifted, shouting ``cowards'' at hundreds of soldiers facing them with armored personnel carriers. Troops also kept back dozens of Chavez supporters protesting nearby.

The first marchers to arrive at Los Proceres park, which is outside the Fort Tiuna military base, stomped down barbed wire blocking the entrance, but they did not try to break past security lines.

Hector Castillo, a photographer for the local newspaper El Mundo, was injured by rubber bullets that some soldiers fired into the air, Caracas Fire Chief Rodolfo Briceno said. Eighteen other people were treated for asphyxiation, he said.

The park is one of eight security zones in Caracas as decreed by Chavez. Protests are banned in those areas unless authorized by the defense ministry.

All of this show of force is absurd,'' said Henrique Capriles, the opposition mayor of an eastern Caracas district. People are tired of being assaulted and repressed.''

The military - purged of dissidents after a brief April coup - has supported Chavez during the strike, which has paralyzed the world's fifth-largest oil exporter but has not rattled the president's resolve to stay in power.

Troops have seized oil tankers, commandeered gasoline trucks and locked striking workers out of oil installations. Top commanders have professed their loyalty to the government.

Speaking in his weekly radio and television address on Sunday, Chavez dismissed opponents as ``fascists'' manipulated by the media.

He also dismissed Infrastructure Minister Eliecer Hurtado, a retired general, and replaced him with Diosdado Cabello, the current interior minister. Chavez did not explain the change or say who would head the interior ministry, which commands the federal and secret police forces.

Venezuela's main television stations are not broadcasting any commercials except opposition advertisements promoting the strike. Media owners say they have been pushed into this stance because Chavez incites followers to attack reporters.

Chavez threatened to revoke the broadcasting licenses of television and radio stations if they ``continue with their irrational insistence on destabilizing the country by supporting this fascist subversion.''

Venezuela's largest labor confederation, business chamber and opposition parties began the strike Dec. 2 to demand that Chavez resign and call early elections if he loses a nonbinding referendum on his rule.

The National Elections Council scheduled the referendum for Feb. 2 after accepting an opposition petition signed by 2 million people.

Chavez says the vote would be unconstitutional, and his supporters have challenged it in the Supreme Court. He was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, and his term ends in 2007. Venezuela's constitution allows a recall referendum halfway through a president's term - August, in Chavez's case.

Opponents accuse the president of running roughshod over democratic institutions and wrecking the economy with leftist policies. The opposition has staged dozens of street marches, called for a tax boycott and held a two-day bank strike last week.

Chavez has threatened to order troops to seize food production plants that are participating in the strike and to fire or jail striking teachers and have soldiers take over their duties.

He already has fired 1,000 oil workers after some 30,000 of 40,000 workers joined the strike, which has caused fuel shortages and slowed oil exports to a trickle.

The strike is costing the country an estimated $70 million a day.

On Jan. 3, Chavez supporters and opponents clashed while police fired tear gas to keep the sides apart during an opposition march on Los Proceres. Two Chavez supporters died after being shot and at least 78 others were injured, five with gunshot wounds. It was unclear who fired on marchers.

Police also intervened Saturday when Chavez supporters blocked the route of a planned opposition march through the streets of Maracay, the military's nerve center, and on Margarita island off Venezuela's coast.

In Colombia, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton dismissed the possibility that his country was heading toward civil war.

To have a civil war, two (sides) are needed, and the government doesn't want that,'' Chaderton told The Associated Press. We are not preparing ourselves for civil war but to preserve peace and reconciliation.''

The country's crude output is estimated at about 400,000 barrels a day, compared with the pre-strike level of 3 million barrels. Exports are a fifth of the 2.5 million barrels a day the country usually produces.

The country's $100 billion economy shrank an estimated 8 percent in 2002, largely due to constant political instability. Inflation has surpassed 30 percent while unemployment reaches 17 percent.

Negotiations sponsored by the Organization of American States have produced few results.

www.sfgate.com ALEXANDRA OLSON, Associated Press Writer Sunday, January 12, 2003

(01-12) 19:38 PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --

Soldiers lobbed tear gas at tens of thousands of Venezuelans marching on a park near a military base to demand the armed forces' support in the ongoing strike against President Hugo Chavez. Nineteen people were injured, including one photographer who was hit by rubber bullets.

Opposition protesters regrouped as the gas clouds lifted, shouting "cowards" at hundreds of soldiers facing them with armored personnel carriers. Troops also kept back dozens of Chavez supporters protesting nearby.

The first marchers to arrive at Los Proceres park, which is outside the Fort Tiuna military base, stomped down barbed wire blocking the entrance, but they did not try to break past security lines.

Hector Castillo, a photographer for the local newspaper El Mundo, was injured by rubber bullets that some soldiers fired into the air, Caracas Fire Chief Rodolfo Briceno said. Eighteen other people were treated for asphyxiation, he said.

The park is one of eight security zones in Caracas as decreed by Chavez. Protests are banned in those areas unless authorized by the defense ministry.

"All of this show of force is absurd," said Henrique Capriles, the opposition mayor of an eastern Caracas district. "People are tired of being assaulted and repressed."

The military -- purged of dissidents after a brief April coup -- has supported Chavez during the strike, which has paralyzed the world's fifth-largest oil exporter but has not rattled the president's resolve to stay in power.

Troops have seized oil tankers, commandeered gasoline trucks and locked striking workers out of oil installations. Top commanders have professed their loyalty to the government.

Speaking in his weekly radio and television address on Sunday, Chavez dismissed opponents as "fascists" manipulated by the media.

He also dismissed Infrastructure Minister Eliecer Hurtado, a retired general, and replaced him with Diosdado Cabello, the current interior minister. Chavez did not explain the change or say who would head the interior ministry, which commands the federal and secret police forces.

Venezuela's main television stations are not broadcasting any commercials except opposition advertisements promoting the strike. Media owners say they have been pushed into this stance because Chavez incites followers to attack reporters.

Chavez threatened to revoke the broadcasting licenses of television and radio stations if they "continue with their irrational insistence on destabilizing the country by supporting this fascist subversion."

Venezuela's largest labor confederation, business chamber and opposition parties began the strike Dec. 2 to demand that Chavez resign and call early elections if he loses a nonbinding referendum on his rule.

The National Elections Council scheduled the referendum for Feb. 2 after accepting an opposition petition signed by 2 million people.

Chavez says the vote would be unconstitutional, and his supporters have challenged it in the Supreme Court. He was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2000, and his term ends in 2007. Venezuela's constitution allows a recall referendum halfway through a president's term -- August, in Chavez's case.

Opponents accuse the president of running roughshod over democratic institutions and wrecking the economy with leftist policies. The opposition has staged dozens of street marches, called for a tax boycott and held a two-day bank strike last week.

Chavez has threatened to order troops to seize food production plants that are participating in the strike and to fire or jail striking teachers and have soldiers take over their duties.

He already has fired 1,000 oil workers after some 30,000 of 40,000 workers joined the strike, which has caused fuel shortages and slowed oil exports to a trickle.

The strike is costing the country an estimated $70 million a day.

On Jan. 3, Chavez supporters and opponents clashed while police fired tear gas to keep the sides apart during an opposition march on Los Proceres. Two Chavez supporters died after being shot and at least 78 others were injured, five with gunshot wounds. It was unclear who fired on marchers.

Police also intervened Saturday when Chavez supporters blocked the route of a planned opposition march through the streets of Maracay, the military's nerve center, and on Margarita island off Venezuela's coast.

In Colombia, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton dismissed the possibility that his country was heading toward civil war.

"To have a civil war, two (sides) are needed, and the government doesn't want that," Chaderton told The Associated Press. "We are not preparing ourselves for civil war but to preserve peace and reconciliation."

The country's crude output is estimated at about 400,000 barrels a day, compared with the pre-strike level of 3 million barrels. Exports are a fifth of the 2.5 million barrels a day the country usually produces.

The country's $100 billion economy shrank an estimated 8 percent in 2002, largely due to constant political instability. Inflation has surpassed 30 percent while unemployment reaches 17 percent.

Negotiations sponsored by the Organization of American States have produced few results.