Chavez: Let's Talk about Carter Proposals on Venezuela

www.voanews.com VOA News 25 Jan 2003, 21:35 UTC

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he finds "interesting" the proposals of former American president Jimmy Carter on how to end the current crisis in Venezuela.

In an interview published Saturday in a Montreal newspaper, The Press), Mr. Chavez said these are "interesting proposals, not necessarily new, which it will be necessary to discuss."

Mr. Carter, last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, in recent days has offered two proposals to end the opposition general strike that began December 2 and has crippled the nation's economy.

One calls for the government and opposition to agree to a constitutionally permissible recall referendum in August. The other calls for a constitutional amendment to shorten the presidential term, allowing early elections this year.

In the interview, Mr. Chavez said it would be "premature" to give an opinion immediately on the proposals, but he said he is ready to talk about them with his country's democratic opposition.

Meanwhile, opponents of the president began a 24-hour street demonstration Saturday to protest a court ruling that suspended plans for a non-binding referendum next month on his rule.

Opposition leaders blame the country's worsening economic woes on Chavez policies and remain determined to see him leave office.

Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Carter proposals represent the best available option to the Venezuelan people. Secretary Powell and officials from five other nations met in Washington to seek solutions to Venezuela's political crisis. The countries make up the recently-formed "Group of Friends," which is expected to send a high-level team to Caracas next week to help find ways to break the political impasse. The six-nation group brings together the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, and Spain. The strike has paralyzed Venezuela's oil production, the mainstay of its economy, and pushed up global oil prices.