Venezuela Govt. Firm Against Strike, Early Election

reuters.com Tue January 14, 2003 01:32 PM ET By Pascal Fletcher

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government said on Tuesday it would survive a six-week-old opposition strike -- which it dismissed as "fiction" -- and insisted it aimed to rule until the end of its term in 2007.

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel told reporters the government had no intention of holding early elections demanded by organizers of the strike that has crippled oil output and shipments by the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter.

The uncompromising stance dimmed hopes for a quick negotiated settlement to Venezuela's economic and political crisis, which has jolted world oil markets and stirred efforts by the international community to try to mediate a solution.

Rangel said the government's objective was to rule until the end of the left-winger Chavez's term in early 2007, although he said the constitution allowed for a binding referendum on the presidential mandate after Aug. 19.

"We have no interest in Chavez leaving office," Rangel said in a briefing to foreign correspondents.

"In conditions of violence, it is very difficult for a country to hold elections," Rangel said, urging opponents to be patient and wait for the binding referendum after August.

The opposition, which has reinforced the strike that started on Dec. 2 with almost daily street protests, is demanding Chavez resign and call immediate elections. It has vowed to continue the shutdown until he does so.

"We are maintaining the civic strike," anti-Chavez union leader Manuel Cova told reporters.

In a bid to break the deadlock, the United States and other countries are moving to set up a "friendly nations" group to back efforts by the Organization of American States to broker an agreement on elections between Chavez and his foes. Prior to the strike, the United States imported about 13 percent of its oil from Venezuela.

The Venezuelan leader was due to discuss his country's crisis in New York on Thursday with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan after attending the inauguration in Quito on Wednesday of Ecuador's new president, Lucio Gutierrez.

Rangel denied that the opposition strike, which has also closed many private businesses and caused shortages of gasoline and some food items, had created chaos in South America's biggest oil producer.

"I don't share this idea of chaos. The country is working," the vice president said. He described the general strike launched by foes as "fiction," saying its organizers were "obsessed" with the idea of trying to force Chavez from power.

But he condemned the oil industry disruption, which has cost the country $4 billion in lost revenue, as "sabotage" and "terrorism." The government has fired 2,000 striking state oil employees and is struggling to restore the industry to normal.

The Venezuela crisis has helped push oil prices to two-year highs of over $30 a barrel as the market frets over supplies at a time when the United States is preparing for a possible war in Iraq.

GOVERNMENT VOWS CRACKDOWN

Chavez, a former paratrooper elected in 1998, six years after leading a coup attempt, and who survived a coup in April, accuses his foes of trying to destroy his self-styled "revolution" aimed at helping the poor. Most Venezuelans live in poverty despite the nation's oil wealth.

Opponents, who include business and union leaders, striking oil executives and dissident military officers, say Chavez is trying to install a Cuban-style communist system.

Rangel, repeating warnings by Chavez on the weekend, said the government would not let the strikers disrupt law and order or essential services such as education, banking, food supplies and transportation. "We are going to apply the law to the letter, without (declaring) a state of emergency," he said.

Chavez, who has purged the armed forces since April and now seems to have their backing, has sent troops to help restart strike-hit oil facilities. He has threatened to do the same with schools, banks and factories that refuse to operate.

Rangel poured cold water on opposition hopes to hold a nonbinding referendum on Chavez's rule on Feb 2.

The government has appealed to the Supreme Court against the referendum, which Rangel dismissed as "unconstitutional and "politically useless." He added the government would respect whatever decision the court reached on the issue.

Chavez has said he will not resign even if he massively loses the nonbinding February referendum.

Early on Tuesday, troops in Caracas seized arms from the metropolitan police serving under anti-Chavez Mayor Alfredo Pena. Last October, the government took over the city force, but was ordered to return it to Pena by the Supreme Court.

Rangel defended the arms seizures, saying the police were responsible for shooting Chavez supporters in clashes involving pro- and anti-government demonstrators in recent months. The opposition blames armed government followers for the violence.