Venezuela's opposition to lift strike if mediation leads to elections
CARACAS Jan 25 - Venezuela's opposition said Friday it would end a 54-day-old strike if agreement on early elections is reached, effectively accepting a suggestion presented to international mediators in Washington.
``We are perfectly willing to lift the strike if the international community, together with pressure from social mobilization in Venezuela, gets the government to accept an electoral solution,'' said Jesus Torrealba, a spokesman for the Democratic Coordinator (CD) group of opposition parties.
Torrealba also told AFP a referendum the opposition planned to hold on February 2, but which the Supreme Court halted, would now be conducted as a symbolic poll on the mandate of President Hugo Chavez, scheduled to end in 2006.
The statements, which came amid signs the strike was weakening, suggested that the opposition alliance - made up by the CD as well as business and labor groups - has warmed to proposals presented by former US president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter.
The proposals entail either holding a recall referendum on August 19 or amending the constitution to shorten the presidential term and holding early elections.
The deal would also require agreement by the opposition to lift the strike aimed at forcing Chavez from office.
The proposals were presented to diplomats attending a closed-door meeting of the Group of Friends of Venezuela, which was set up to boost a so far unsuccessful mediation mission by the Organisation of American States.
The Washington gathering at OAS headquarters was attended by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and diplomats from Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal and Spain.
Powell urged Chavez and the opposition to accept one of the two proposals by Carter aimed at defusing the crisis.
Powell said in remarks at OAS headquarters that the Carter proposals were the best available options for the Venezuelan people.
The countries seeking to help Venezuela emerge from its tense political standoff also agreed to meet again January 30 to try to move forward steps aimed at ending the crisis and preventing further violence, Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said.
Chavez has said he was open to the compromise plan, which the United States endorsed as an ``excellent basis'' for a resolution of the deep crisis in the South American country which, while oil-rich, remains plagued by poverty.
The embattled president put up a huge show of force on the eve of the Washington talks, addressing hundreds of thousands of supporters who marched through Caracas to converge at a downtown rally.
The opposition, in turn, announced a 24-hour gathering on a stretch of highway in eastern Caracas, already dubbing it ``the biggest protest in history.''
The rally was called to protest ``against the theft of the referendum,'' a reference to the Supreme Court's decision to halt the February balloting.
But it was mainly seen as a bid to demonstrate popular rejection of the leftist-populist president at a time when the strike is losing steam.
While major businesses remained closed, most stores have reopened in recent weeks, and even the vital oil sector, the worst affected, was showing signs of recovery.
The opposition has conceded that crude output, which the strike initially slashed to a trickle, rose significantly in recent weeks, putting production at more than 800,000 barrels per day. The government said daily oil production exceeded one million barrels, or a third of pre-strike output.
``People are still watching the news regarding Venezuela, where there appear to be a few little signs that maybe the strike is coming to an end,'' Prudential Bache broker Tony Machacek said in London.
Insecurity triggered by the strike has also hit the bolivar, prompting the government to announce it would implement currency controls starting Wednesday, when currency trading resumes after a five-business-day suspension.
Venezuela's currency has depreciated more than 30 percent since the strike started on December 2. - AFP