U.S. sees no need for new mediator in Venezuela

03 Jan 2003 21:16

WASHINGTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it saw no need for a new mediator in the conflict between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his opponents.

The Organization of American States (OAS) has been trying to settle the political dispute and end a 33-day opposition-led strike that has crippled Venezuela's oil industry and devastated the economy.

Chavez said in Brazil on Thursday that he favored the creation of a "Friends of Venezuela" group to help end the crisis. Venezuelan officials said the group could include Brazil, France, Russia and some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington preferred to rely on the OAS mission led by Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria, who arranged another session of talks in Caracas on Thursday.

"We don't think that there needs to be some separate Group of Friends formed," Boucher told a briefing.

"We urge both sides to demonstrate maximum flexibility in working with the Organization of American States to achieve peaceful, democratic, constitutional and electoral solutions to the crisis," the spokesman added.

At least one person was shot and wounded on Friday as both sides took to the streets, with Venezuelan troops firing tear gas and shotgun pellets to keep apart Chavez supporters and opposition marchers. In addition, the government slashed growth prospects for the recession-hit Venezuelan economy.

The United States has kept its distance from the conflict in Venezuela but it has criticized Chavez in the past and was slow to condemn a short-lived coup against him in April last year.

Its main concern now is supplies of oil from Venezuela, which normally provides 13 percent of U.S. oil imports. World oil prices have jumped as supplies from Venezuela dry up.

Boucher declined detailed comment on meetings in Brazil on Thursday among Latin American leftist leaders, in which newly-elected Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held separate talks with Chavez and Fidel Castro of Cuba.

"We have an excellent relationship with Brazil and ... we look forward to building on that relationship and working on the common values and common goals that we have with our neighbors in this hemisphere," he said.