Democracy in Venezuela

www.iht.com NYT Saturday, January 25, 2003   The best hope for a peaceful, democratic outcome to Venezuela's political crisis may now rest in the mediation efforts of Jimmy Carter. During his presidency, Carter was a firm champion of democracy in Latin America, standing up to the military tyrannies that then predominated in the region. Now he has proposed two principled and plausible exits to the long-running conflict over President Hugo Chavez, which has divided Venezuela's people, hobbled its economy and raised the specter of a breakdown in constitutional rule.

Carter, who met separately with Chavez and opposition leaders, offers two possible solutions, both compatible with the country's laws and the right of Venezuelans to choose their own leaders freely. One provides for passage of a constitutional amendment, either by Venezuela's legislature or a popular vote, that would shorten the current six-year presidential term and provide for new elections this year. The other would set up a binding referendum this summer on whether Chavez should resign or stay in office as scheduled until 2006. That isn't exactly what either side wants, but Chavez and at least some opposition leaders have suggested that they might be able to accept one or both of the Carter proposals.

Until this week, Chavez opponents had hoped to drive him from office long before summer. They were counting on the combined pressure of a nonbinding referendum that had been scheduled for Feb. 2 and a national strike, now in its eighth week, that has shut down much of Venezuela's oil industry, depriving the government of badly needed revenues and sending world oil prices soaring.

But the strike has begun to falter, and this week Venezuela's Supreme Court suspended preparations for the February referendum, which Chavez had vowed to ignore anyway. That should strengthen the elements in the opposition willing to accept a reasonable compromise along the lines Carter has suggested.

Over the years, Venezuela has been one of Latin America's most consistent constitutional democracies. Changes in political direction and leadership, including Chavez's own two elections, have been carried out lawfully and through the ballot box. That tradition is too valuable to overturn in the heat of the current crisis. Carter points the way toward an honorably democratic solution.