Rally by foes of Venezuela's Chavez has festive air

www.alertnet.org NEWSDESK   25 Jan 2003 18:39

By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Thousands of foes of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez took to the streets of Caracas on Saturday to back a 55-day strike aimed at triggering elections in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

Waving national flags and banners, the demonstrators flocked in a festive mix of politics and partying to a major highway in the east of the capital, where they clamored for the leftist leader to quit.

"He has to go. After more than 50 days we can wait a few more until he is out," said Flores Diaz, 26, a lawyer cloaked in a red, yellow and blue Venezuelan flag.

The strike, led by rebel managers at state oil firm PDVSA, has slashed Venezuela's vital petroleum output, driving up world crude prices and drawing the international community into the nation's tense political deadlock.

Protests, severe fuel shortages and aggressive political rhetoric from both sides have stoked tensions. At least seven people have been killed and dozens wounded in clashes and shootings since the shutdown began on Dec. 2.

Hundreds of thousands of Chavez supporters packed the streets of central Caracas on Thursday in a show of strength for the former paratrooper, whose populist promises to ease poverty handed him a landslide election victory in 1998.

The pugnacious Venezuelan leader, whose fiery speeches are peppered with references to class warfare, refuses to yield to foes he brands as rich elites trying to topple him by destroying the oil sector.

But the alliance of opposition political parties, unions and businesses counter that Chavez has ruled like a corrupt, inept dictator. They say the stoppage will go on until he agrees to elections.

"Chavez is not interested in going to the polls," said union boss Alfredo Ramos before Saturday's march. "All the government has done is make fun of the Venezuelan people and avoid an electoral solution."

GLOBAL HELP AMID ECONOMIC CRUNCH Nearly eight weeks into the grueling shutdown, Chavez and his foes appear set on standing their ground even as the strike drives Venezuela's fragile economy deeper into recession. Oil exports account for half of the government's revenues.

The Finance Ministry and the Central Bank on Wednesday shut down foreign currency exchange markets to stave off capital flight and halt the deep slide in the local bolivar currency as investors seek the safety of the U.S. dollar.

The international community on Friday stepped up efforts to break the stalemate. After meeting in Washington, six regional governments led by the United States and Brazil said they would send a team to Caracas next week to back negotiations brokered by the Organization of American States.

"The mission is going to discuss concrete measures like, for example, how to diminish the risk of violence," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said in Washington.

The peace talks, which started more than two months ago, are stalled as government and opposition negotiators haggle over the timing of possible elections.

Former U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter has proposed two solutions: a constitutional amendment that will shorten the president's term in office or a binding referendum on his rule on August 19. Both sides say they are analyzing the options.

The president's popularity has fallen sharply. But he still retains strong support among poor voters who believe his reforms will give them access to the nation's huge oil wealth.

Fighting back against the strikers, Chavez has ordered troops and replacement workers to take over oil installations. Crude production and exports have crept back up, but the industry is still operating far below its usually levels of about 3.1 million barrels per day.