The Last Stand?

www.latintrade.com January, 2003

Venezuelans continue to pressure President Hugo Chávez to abandon office immediately or call early elections. Union group Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela, business chamber Fede-cámaras and other opposition leaders have given the government an ultimatum: resign or we strike!

“We are ready for the great strike!” —Union leader Carlos Ortega (El Universal)

“The people are going to defend the revolution. It won’t be guerrillas in the mountains, it will be people in the streets.” —Pro-government counter-striker Carlos González (The Houston Chronicle)

“The government is solidly united. It’s the opposition which is divided.” —Venezuelan Vice President José Vicente Rangel (Forbes)

“He who holds the most responsibility and power should yield the most.” —Episcopal Conference President Baltazar Porras (BBC Mundo)

“A strike has no chance of succeeding unless it is the final step in a process, the final break.” —Project Venezuela leader Henrique Salas Romer (The Washington Post)

“This is the time to resolve Venezuela’s difficulties peacefully, democratically and constitutionally, through an election.” —Otto Reich, former U.S. assistant secretary of state (The Miami Herald)

“I will call for elections, but in December 2006. And we will also win that election.” —Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez (Clarín)