Chavez supporters march in Venezuela to demand probe into slayings

03:44 PM EST Jan 06

CARACAS (AP) - Supporters of President Hugo Chavez protested outside the attorney-general's office Monday to demand an investigation into two slayings the government blamed on leaders of a month-old strike. Dozens of protesters shouted for justice, some bearing placards blaming Caracas city police - who report to an opposition mayor - for the killings at a political rally Friday.

Chavez promised justice for the men, who were shot in a melee of Chavez followers, opposition marchers and security forces. It was unclear who was responsible for the deaths of the two government supporters, but Chavez blamed the violence on the strike leaders and the opposition-aligned news media.

"Venezuelans cannot keep dying with impunity," Chavez said in a televised address Sunday night. "We are obligated to impart justice. The country demands it. The fatherland clamours for it."

He lashed out at owners of Venezuelan newspapers and television stations, accusing them of hailing strike leaders as "heroes when they are really traitors."

The dispute pits Venezuelan's economic elite and their allies in the middle class who fear they will suffer under Chavez's attempts to improve the lot of the country's poor majority.

Opposition leaders blame Chavez's leftist policies for a deep recession and accuse him of trying to accumulate too much power. They want him to resign or hold a non-binding referendum on his rule.

Chavez blames economic dislocation on the opposition strike and say his opponents should wait for a binding resolution which, under the constitution, can be held by summer.

Chavez was briefly deposed in an opposition coup last year, but quickly restored to power by the military after coup leaders tried to suspend the constitution.

As the two sides traded allegations, Chavez claimed oil exports were recovering and had reached 1.5 million barrels a day - about half Venezuela's normal level.

Striking oil executives say production is only a fraction of normal output. Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and a major supplier to the United States.

Oil production came to a near halt because the strike, which began Dec. 2, includes some 35,000 employees of the state monopoly Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA.

Chavez called leaders of the strike "traitors" and said they should be punished. But he stopped short of announcing new measures to force and end to the strike.

The president has already fired dozens of striking workers from the state oil monopoly and ordered troops to guard oil installations.

Thousands of Chavez supporters attended the funerals Sunday of the men killed in the melee - Oscar Gomez Aponte, 24, and Jairo Gregorio Moran, 23. Vice-President Jose Vicente Rangel and several cabinet ministers helped carry the flag-draped coffins through Caracas.

The violence erupted Friday when several hundred presidential supporters threw rocks, bottles and fireworks at thousands of opposition marchers outside military headquarters in Caracas. At least 78 people were injured.

Police fought to keep the two sides apart, firing rubber bullets and tear gas, when gunfire rang out. Opposition protesters insisted the shots came from Chavez supporters. But the government said it came from police who report to an opposition mayor.

"How long will metropolitan police officers continue being used to repress the people?" Chavez said in his speech. "We will find the assassins of Oscar Gomez and Jairo Gregorio Moran wherever they are hiding."

Chavez tried to take over the city police force last fall but the Supreme Court ordered the president to restore the force's autonomy.

Strike leader Alfredo Gomez said Sunday that Chavez fired 251 more striking oil workers but government officials were not immediately available to confirm the claim. Chavez did not mention the dismissals during his television address.

Two police officers also were wounded Saturday when gunfire broke out during Gomez Aponte's wake. Chavez supporters fired on police after the government blamed the Caracas police for the Friday deaths, police chief Henry Vivas said.