Powell Urges Venezuelans to Embrace Carter's Ideas

www.nytimes.com By JAMES DAO and JUAN FORERO

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell strongly urged the Venezuelan government and its opposition today to accept one of the two proposals offered by former President Jimmy Carter to end the 54-day-old strike that has filled Venezuela's streets with protesters, shut down businesses and paralyzed its oil industry.

As diplomats in Washington and officials in Caracas reported progress toward ending the impasse, several leaders of the opposition movement said they were prepared to begin negotiating on one of Mr. Carter's proposals — a referendum on President Hugo Chávez's rule.

The opposition's willingness to discuss the August referendum took some officials by surprise. Leaders of the opposition had said recently that they considered August too late. Some officials viewed this softening of their position as an indication that the opposition believes that its strike is losing steam.

In Washington today, the Venezuelan foreign minister, Roy Chaderton, also told reporters he believed the government had begun to break the strike at the state-owned oil company, asserting that oil production is expected to surpass a million barrels a day in the near future. Oil industry analysts have said the government exaggerated oil production during the strike.

Diplomacy to end the impasse moved to the headquarters of the Organization of American States in Washington today, as a new group calling itself the Friends of the Secretary General held its first meeting. The group, which consists of the United States, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Spain and Portugal, is intended to help César Gaviria, the secretary general of the Organization of American States, broker an agreement.

After a two-hour meeting, the Brazilian foreign minister, Celso Amorim, who was appointed coordinator, said he sensed a willingness on both sides to discuss Mr. Carter's proposals.

"I am more hopeful today than I was yesterday," Mr. Amorim said. "There is a beginning of an interest in the proposals."

In a statement to the friends group, Mr. Powell called Mr. Carter's proposals "the best path for Venezuelans."

"They offer a way out of the current impasse, and it is our job as the Friends of the Secretary General group to urge both sides to agree to one of them," he said.

Mr. Carter offered two proposals on Monday in Caracas. One would be the adoption of a constitutional amendment that would cut the president's term to four years from six, ending Mr. Chávez's term this year and leading to new elections. The second, one Mr. Chávez has publicly said he would support, would lead to a recall referendum in August that would ask people whether Mr. Chávez should be removed from office.

The opposition has long opposed the second proposal, saying August is too far off. But now, with Mr. Chávez's government slowly reactivating the once-moribund oil industry and many Venezuelans questioning the effectiveness of the strike, anti-Chávez leaders say they are open to Mr. Carter's proposals.

What has made the referendum idea more palatable, they say, is that it calls on the government to guarantee that the vote would take place no later than Aug. 19, while offering other assurances.

"With these proposals, we are disposed to negotiating," said Carlos Fernández, leader of the country's most influential business group.

There are still stumbling blocks, though. Opposition leaders said they expected the oil workers and executives who shut down the state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, not to be fired or punished. Though the Carter proposal says workers exercising their "labor rights" should not be punished, analysts believe it is unlikely that Mr. Chávez will let top dissident oil executives have their jobs back.

In Washington, Mr. Chaderton refused to say whether the government would offer the workers amnesty. Instead, he complained bitterly about violence by the strikers and the harsh criticism of the Chávez government that dominates many newspapers and television stations.

In a meeting with reporters here, Mr. Chaderton was defiant, saying the Chávez government believed it should serve out its full term, scheduled to last until 2006, and had no plans to assist the opposition in either amending the constitution or scheduling an August referendum.

But he suggested that the government would not block a referendum, if the opposition collects the required signatures on petitions.

The shift in the opposition movement came after several leaders in the organization privately criticized those who insisted on continuing with a strike that has made life miserable for countless Venezuelans. The strongest proponents of the strike include Carlos Ortega, the labor leader, some big businessmen and owners of the steadfastly anti-Chávez media, said several members of the Democratic Coordinator, the leading opposition organization.

"They did not see the strike as an instrument for pressuring, but rather as a goal in and of itself," said Armando Díaz, general secretary of the left-wing Red Flag party and a member of the Coordinator. "We told them, `No government will ever fall because of a general strike.' "

A high-ranking member of the Coordinator said that earlier this month, opposition leaders realized that a February nonbinding referendum on Mr. Chávez's rule would most likely not happen. "So Carter's coming here was welcomed," said the official, who asked to remain anonymous. "Even though it is the same as Chávez's proposal, it was positive because it came from Carter. That means there is hope."

Venezuela's President Reasserts Hard Line Against Strikers  (January 17, 2003)