Venezuela's Chavez to Meet with Annan

www.voanews.com VOA News 16 Jan 2003, 00:18 UTC

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez meets Thursday in New York with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan as six countries launch a joint effort to help end Venezuela's political crisis and crippling general strike.

Secretary-General Annan says he hopes all parties in Venezuela will use democratic and constitutional means to resolve their differences.

Meanwhile, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States have officially launched what they call the "Friends of Venezuela" group. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proposed the group. It will complement efforts by the Organization of American States to help Venezuela solve its problems.

President Chavez opposes U.S. participation in the Friends group unless President Bush personally takes part in its meetings.

A State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said Wednesday the United States has been and will continue to be very active with both the government and the opposition in seeking a political solution in Venezuela.

Venezuela is in the seventh week of a general strike that has shut down oil production, sending world oil prices climbing.

Opposition leaders have demanded that leftist President Chavez resign, saying his economic policies are destroying the country. Both sides are waiting for Venezuela's Supreme Court to decide the legality of a proposed February second referendum on whether Mr. Chavez should resign.

The government calls the referendum unconstitutional. The opposition hopes it could lead to early elections. Some observers say despite Mr. Chavez's widespread unpopularity, he would likely win re-election.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.