93% wants him to, but Chavez won't talk

Won't talk, won't listen: Chavez As the crippling general strike entered its fourth week Monday, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez continued to ignore the majority will of his people.

In a nationwide poll released Monday by the country's largest newspaper, 'El Universal', a massive 93% of those interviewed said that Chavez ought to negotiate with the opposition. Only 6% wanted him to stay firm.

The former coup-leader does not want to call free and democratic elections to solve the country's crisis, and has shown no will to seriously address the issue with the opposition. Although he nominally assigned six of his supporters to mediation brokered by OAS secretary general Cesar Gaviria, the talks have not shown results after nearly two months and Gaviria has complained of "stalling tactics" by the Chavez representatives.

Friday, the representatives of the Chavez government left their opposition counterparts and Gaviria waiting in a no-show lack of respect, thumbing their nose at the OAS Secretary General.

The international community does not understand this confrontational attitude: " - We are disappointed that the Government of Venezuela, Friday, did not attend a scheduled session of dialogue, which ultimately led to the session being canceled," said U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker. " - What we've talked about is electoral solutions, but that needs to start with dialogue."

After three days of no such dialogue, a short meeting was scheduled for Monday, but Cesar Gaviria reported that no advances had been made. The next meeting has now been scheduled for Thursday. That marks a full week of basically not moving forward, while the situation in the streets is deteriorating: Long lines of cars have waited days in front of empty gas stations, and some food stocks are getting scarce.

With his popularity plummeting, Hugo Chavez has had to resort to arbitrary arrests and human rights violations to maintain his grip on power. This, too, has caused reaction in world opinion, who is following the acts in Venezuela closely. The Martin Luther King Foundation condemned the treatment of a tanker-crew as a flagrant human rights violation, and Nobel Peace laureate Jimmy Carter, former U.S. President, also had strong words for the Chavez government:

" - The current situation of scarcity of supplies and political confrontation increases the likelihood of imminent violence," Carter warned. Carter urged the Chavez-government to take part in talks to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Celebrating a sad Christmas as their country is increasingly becoming a dictatorship, Venezuelans - and the world - are asking themselves: Why won't Chavez talk?

More information: www.MilitaresDemocraticos.com December 23, 2002