Venezuela debate goes to Washington - Strike day 54: 'Friends' group to hear opposition leaders

www.cnn.com Friday, January 24, 2003 Posted: 11:00 AM EST (1600 GMT)

As long as this group supports an electoral and peaceful solution to Venezuela's crisis, our efforts will coincide with theirs.

-- Alejandro Armas, opposition negotiator

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela's opposition leaders took their case against President Hugo Chavez to Washington on Friday, joining six nations to discuss ending the country's strike.

Chavez's opponents were to meet with delegates of six nations that support negotiations mediated by the Organization of American States. Among the proposals is one offered by former President Jimmy Carter to end the 54-day-old strike in exchange for early elections.

Venezuela's opposition called the strike December 2 to demand that Chavez resign or call early elections. The protests have crippled production in the world's fifth largest oil exporter.

Opposition leaders contend Chavez's leftist policies have damaged business and scared away foreign investment.

"As long as this group supports an electoral and peaceful solution to Venezuela's crisis, our efforts will coincide with theirs," Alejandro Armas, an opposition negotiator, told local Union Radio from Washington on Friday. "We need to be sympathetic, optimistic and supportive of this initiative."

The countries attending the talks are the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal and Spain.

Chavez has said he welcomed international help but warned against outside intervention in Venezuela's affairs. He urged the six nations to recognize that he was elected democratically and warned them not to give equal weight to an "undemocratic" opposition.

Pipe bomb explodes at massive pro-Chavez rally

Adding to the tension, a pipe bomb exploded in downtown Caracas on Thursday, killing one and wounding at least 14 as about 300,000 people were rallying to support Chavez.

Authorities sort through trash near the site of the bomb blast.

A homeless man who was rummaging in the trash where the bomb was apparently hidden was killed in the blast, said Col. Rodolfo Briceno, the Caracas fire chief.

The rally went on as planned, with Chavez insisting that his left-wing, populist regime would outlast the strike.

Chavez accused strike leaders and the Venezuelan news media of using the strike to weaken the economy and orchestrate a coup like the one in April that briefly forced him from office.

"The Venezuelan people don't want violence," Chavez told the crowd.

The rally followed a decision earlier this week by Venezuela's supreme court to invalidate a planned February 2 referendum aimed at forcing Chavez from power -- a nonbinding vote that he had declared unconstitutional.

Most blue-collar workers and half the administrators have returned to work at the state oil monopoly and production has surpassed 1 million barrels a day, the company's president, Ali Rodriguez, told the state news agency Venpres Thursday.

Union and striking oil executives disputed his claims about the work force and insisted production is about 812,000 barrels a day. Pre-strike production was about 3.2 million barrels a day.