Venezuela Troops Fire Tear Gas at Anti-Chavez March

www.grandforks.com Posted on Sun, Jan. 12, 2003 BY PASCAL FLETCHER Reuters

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan troops fired tear gas on Sunday to force back tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in Caracas as leftist President Hugo Chavez threatened tough measures to counter a crippling 6-week-old opposition strike.

Clouds of gas enveloped the demonstrators, who had marched toward Fuerte Tiuna military headquarters but found their path blocked by barbed wire barricades and several hundred National Guard troops and military police.

"This looks like a war zone," opposition leader Antonio Ledezma said after the protesters scattered. Several people were carried away, apparently overcome by the gas.

The clash, one of several in recent weeks, broke out on the 42nd day of a grueling opposition strike that has slashed oil output and production in the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter.

The strikers are demanding the resignation of the populist leader, who was elected in 1998, six years after he staged a botched coup bid. They want him to hold early elections.

Chavez sternly warned the opposition strikers he would not let them disrupt the nation's social and economic life by shutting down schools and banks or interfering with food supplies.

"They are attacking the country and the population ... denying them gasoline and food ... sabotaging education and health," he said during his weekly television and radio broadcast.

Chavez, who has already sacked 2,000 striking oil executives and employees, repeated threats to send troops to take over private factories and stores if anti-government businessmen withheld food supplies.

On Saturday, he warned the government would intervene in banks and schools shut by the strike.

"This was a declaration of war. Chavez is not interested in dialogue or reconciliation," glass artist Luz Marina Urrecheaga said on Sunday as she and other protesters harangued helmeted troops.

The strike has rocked Venezuela's oil-reliant economy and sent its bolivar currency tumbling. It has also jolted oil markets and the oil exporters' cartel OPEC agreed on Sunday to raise production by 1.5 million barrels per day to stave off a spike in prices threatened by the Venezuelan strike.

PROTESTERS MOCK TROOPS

The marchers had headed toward Fuerte Tiuna in a repeat of a Jan. 3 protest that left two Chavez supporters dead and dozens more injured.

A small crowd of angry Chavez supporters who turned out to confront the anti-government protesters were kept back by a separate cordon of troops.

On his weekly "Hello President" show, Chavez threatened to revoke the broadcasting licenses of private TV stations that criticize his rule.

As a result of the strike, Venezuelans have been experiencing unprecedented shortages of gasoline, cooking gas and some food items.

With many businesses closed, bank workers staged a 48-hour stoppage last week, but will reopen on Monday under restricted service hours.

Chavez, who survived a brief coup in April, says he is a champion of the poor and that wealthy and corrupt minority elites are trying to topple him.

Chavez's foes accuse him of dragging Venezuela toward Cuban-style communism. They say his support has reached an all-time low, even among the poor.

The government and opposition remain deadlocked over the timing of elections and the United States wants a negotiated settlement in talks brokered by the Organization of American States.

Opposition leaders were traveling to the United States to present their case to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the State Department.

The opposition plans to hold a nonbinding referendum on Chavez's rule on Feb 2. Chavez says such a referendum can't be legally held until August. His term ends in early 2007.