U.S. exploring ways to end Venezuela strike with other nations in hemisphere

www.sfgate.com Friday, January 10, 2003

(01-10) 12:04 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

The Bush administration on Friday called on the international community for help resolve the five-week strike in Venezuela which is crippling oil exports, promoting violence and threatening the stability of the government of President Hugo Chavez.

"The severe damage being caused to Venezuela's economy, as well as the increasing likelihood of violence and civil conflict, requires a solution," said White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.

"U.S. policy continues to support Secretary General Gaviria's efforts in Caracas to facilitate a dialogue between both sides that leads to a peaceful, democratic, constitutional and electoral solution to Venezuela's crisis," he said.

The administration is working with the Organization of American States and member nations to explore ways to peacefully end the standoff between the Chavez government and its opponents, he said, noting that OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria has been quietly discussing options with other OAS states, including formation of a "Friends of Venezuela" group "to help the Venezuelans find a solution."

The Washington Post reported in Friday editions that the United States was putting aside its reluctance to get involved in Venezuela's internal affairs and readying an initiative to form a group of nations to try to end the deadlock.

The initiative may be rolled out next week, the newspaper said. It said the proposal's immediate goal would be to end the opposition-organized strike. The group would seek to develop a compromise calling for early Venezuelan elections and building on OAS mediation efforts already under way, the newspaper said.

"Secretary General Gaviria has been quietly consulting with OAS members on other possible initiatives, including the idea of Friends of Venezuela group, which might serve to strengthen his central efforts to help Venezuela to find a solution to this problem," Fleischer said.

"We have been and are working closely with Secretary General Gaviria and hemispheric partners to engage diplomatically under the OAS umbrella in support of Gaviria," he said. .

Earlier he stressed that the diplomatic effort is in "the early stages" and that "an electoral solution is the direction the United States sees."

The strike has paralyzed the Venezuelan economy and brought its vital oil industry -- a top U.S. supplier and once the world's fifth-largest exporter -- to a virtual halt.