Group of Friends of Venezuela to Meet Friday in Washington

www.voanews.com VOA News 24 Jan 2003, 00:45 UTC

The six-member "group of friends" of Venezuela meets Friday in Washington for talks on the political crisis facing the oil-rich nation.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell joins officials from Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Spain and Portugal for the meeting, which will take place at the headquarters of the Organization of American States.

The six-member group was formed to add diplomatic support to the OAS, which has spent several weeks trying to mediate the crisis between Venezuela's government and opposition.

The Washington talks come one day after the Bush administration urged the two sides in the dispute to carefully consider settlement proposals offered by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

The proposals, released earlier this week in Caracas, call for either a constitutional amendment that would trigger early elections or a national referendum in August on the rule of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. In return, the opposition would be required to end a long-running general strike, which has severely disrupted Venezuela's vital oil industry. Before the strike began, Venezuela was the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

Mr. Chavez has said he is open to the proposals put forth by Mr. Carter, who visited Caracas earlier this week.