Carter submits two options to end crisis - Aim is to end strike so oil can flow again
Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter on Tuesday presented to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his foes a plan for elections that seeks to end a crippling opposition strike in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.
The blueprint unveiled by the former US president offered two options: one for an amendment to Venezuela's constitution that would trigger early elections and the other for a national referendum on Mr Chavez's rule on Aug 19.
Both options, which were received by government and opposition negotiators on Tuesday, foresee the lifting of the seven-week-old strike launched by opposition leaders to press the left-wing leader to resign and hold early elections.
The gruelling shutdown has slashed output and exports by South America's biggest oil producer, pushing the oil-reliant economy deeper into recession.
The bolivar currency tumbled 5.1% against the US dollar on Tuesday. Moody's Investors Service cut Venezuela's foreign currency debt ratings, sinking the country deeper into junk bond territory because of uncertainty over the strike.
A government source said the administration and Central Bank had approved a temporary closure of the foreign exchange market, as they studied exchange restrictions to stem capital flight.
The bolivar has shed more than 24% of its value against the dollar since the start of the year. But the source, who asked not to be named, said a devaluation was not being planned for the moment.
The 51-day-old oil industry strike showed signs of weakening on Tuesday when some oil tanker pilots in western Lake Maracaibo went back to work. Nevertheless, strike leaders said they were continuing the shutdown, which has pushed up world oil prices to two-year highs of more than $34 a barrel.
Mr Chavez, a populist who led an unsuccessful coup attempt in 1992, was first elected to the presidency in 1998 and survived a brief coup last year, has refused to resign and says he will try to break the strike.
Opposition leaders said they hoped Mr Carter's proposal, backed by international pressure, would give fresh impetus to faltering negotiations on ways to end the crisis, which is threatening to bankrupt Venezuela's oil-reliant economy.
``President Carter's weight and authority, combined with the international situation, could force the government to sit down and talk,'' opposition negotiator Alejandro Armas said.
More than two months of peace negotiations, brokered by the Organisation of American States Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria, have so far failed to produce a deal on elections, increasing uncertainty about Venezuela's economic and political future.
Raising fears of social unrest, the strike has led to shortages of petrol, cooking gas and some food items.
Mr Carter, who has made a career of trying to resolve world conflicts, travelled to Caracas to throw his weight behind international efforts to end the Venezuelan crisis. ``Both sides now want to reach an agreement to end the impasse,'' Mr Carter said before flying home.
One of the two options he presented proposes an amendment to the constitution that would allow the holding of early elections. Such an amendment must be proposed by 15% of the electorate and be approved in a national referendum.
The other option is for the country to wait until Aug 19, halfway through Mr Chavez's term, when the constitution allows for a binding referendum on the president's mandate, which is due to end in early 2007.
Mr Chavez told reporters after meeting Mr Carter he was willing to accept a constitutional amendment. ``I don't reject any of these possibilities, but the opposition must comply with the constitution,'' he said.
Mr Carter said both sides would have to agree on one of his alternatives.