Venezuela's Chavez Threatens to Quit Crisis Talks

abcnews.go.com — By Pascal Fletcher

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened on Saturday to withdraw from negotiations with his opponents, casting doubt over peace talks aimed at ending a political stalemate over a strike that has crippled vital oil exports.

Chavez's comments, made to a late night state television program in Caracas, came as the international community stepped up support for the talks brokered by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria.

The negotiations are trying to end the conflict behind a 48-day-old opposition strike that has slashed oil output from the world's No. 5 petroleum exporter and rattled global energy markets already nervous over a U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The strike, called by the opposition to press Chavez to resign and hold early elections, has caused serious shortages of gasoline, cooking gas and some food items and pushed Venezuela's oil-reliant economy deeper into recession.

Chavez blasted his foes as "terrorists and fascists," and said there was "no possibility of conversation with them."

He added: "We in the government ... are considering withdrawing our team from the negotiating table because those people are showing no sign that they really want to choose the democratic path."

Opposition leaders condemned his comments, but said the OAS-backed negotiations remained the only solution to the nation's crisis. "Chavez is trying to wriggle out of this; he's cornered by the international scene. He's trying to block all the international initiatives to help Venezuela," anti-Chavez union boss and opposition negotiator Manuel Cova told Reuters.

Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and survived an April coup, said his government would consult with Gaviria and decide over the weekend whether to stay in the OAS-brokered talks, which have made little progress since they began two months ago.

Gaviria planned to travel to the United States for the weekend, but the talks he chairs are due to resume on Monday.

While ruling out negotiations with what he called "terrorist and fascist" strike leaders, Chavez said his government would be willing to talk to moderate "democratic" opposition representatives who were "not coup mongers."

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

The Venezuelan leader spoke shortly before flying to Brazil for talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on international efforts to back the OAS peace negotiations.

Latin American leaders this week created a six-nation "group of friends" to support OAS chief Gaviria's efforts to broker a peace deal on the key issue of the possible timing of elections in Venezuela to solve the political crisis.

The group comprised the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Spain and Portugal. But Chavez, who held talks this week with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York, said he wanted the "friends" group to be expanded to include other nations like China, Russia and France.

After meeting briefly with Lula in Brasilia, Chavez reiterated his calls for the group to include other nations. But he said the expansion could come during a second phase at a later date.

Chavez has vowed to break the opposition strike, now in its seventh week, sending troops to take over strike-hit oil fields, refineries and export terminals. But the government has had only partial success so far in restoring oil operations.

Following Chavez's orders, troops Friday seized drink products from a bottling affiliate of Coca-Cola Co. and from a major local brewer in Carabobo state, west of Caracas.

The confiscation, carried out by a pro-Chavez National Guard general, was condemned as an illegal attack against private property by opposition leaders.

U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela, Charles Shapiro, said the raids could strain ties with Washington and expressed concern over U.S. commercial interests in the South American nation.

Three opposition leaders traveled this week to the United States where they met U.S. government officials and accused Chavez of ruining Venezuela's economy with his populist reforms. Chavez says his self-styled "revolution" aims to help the country's poor majority.

Rejecting opposition calls for early elections, Chavez has told them they must wait until after Aug. 19, when the constitution allows for a binding referendum on his rule. His current term is scheduled to end in early 2007. (Additional reporting by Magdalena Morales and Patrick Markey)