Chavez Foes Demand Poll as Envoys Visit Venezuela

reuters.com Fri January 31, 2003 06:32 PM ET By Pascal Fletcher

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan opposition protesters clamored for elections Friday as envoys from six nations urged President Hugo Chavez and his foes to settle their political feud peacefully through the ballot box.

The demonstrators massed outside a Caracas hotel where envoys from the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Spain and Portugal met opposition negotiators at the start of a mission to try to solve Venezuela's political and economic crisis.

Two months into a grueling opposition strike that has pushed the world's No. 5 oil exporter deep into recession, the government said it had restored oil output to around half of pre-strike levels, regaining much-needed income flows.

The deputy foreign ministers from the six-nation "group of friends," formed this month to help solve the Venezuelan crisis, also held talks with left-winger Chavez about the political deadlock behind the strike.

The opposition stoppage is aimed at trying to force the populist president to quit and hold early elections.

The group has a mandate to back efforts by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria to achieve an agreement on elections between the government and opposition.

Outside the hotel, the huge crowd of protesters packed a highway, shouting "Elections now!" and "Not one step back!" and waving national flags. They called on the foreign envoys to press the government to agree to an early poll.

"They should do something so we can have elections, so all these marches are not in vain," 45-year-old housewife Jaini Fuentes told Reuters.

The demonstration was originally called as a massive show of support for Venezuela's private media, most of which are fiercely critical of Chavez. He accuses them of bias, while they charge him with trying to curb press freedom.

CONSTITUTIONAL COURSE

Opponents of Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and still commands significant support among the nation's poor majority, propose a constitutional amendment to trigger an early election. They plan to collect signatures backing the proposal in a nationwide action Sunday.

Foes of Chavez accuse him of ruling like a dictator and of trying to impose Cuba-style communism in the oil-rich nation. The president, who survived a coup in 2002 and whose term ends in early 2007, has condemned the strikers as "coup mongers" and says he will not negotiate with them.

Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton, a member of the government negotiating team, said after the foreign envoys' talks with Chavez that the opposition proposal was legal. But he made clear the government did not intend to encourage it.

"This government has no intention of trying to get rid of itself," he told reporters.

Chaderton said Chavez stressed to the foreign envoys that his government was democratically elected and legitimate. He also briefed them on the economic damage caused by the strike.

"He was combative," said one source who attended the meeting but asked not to be named.

The opposition strike has slashed oil production and exports, rattling global energy markets jittery over U.S. preparations for a possible attack on Iraq.

Facing plummeting oil revenues and capital flight that is bleeding foreign reserves, the government prepared emergency financial measures, including heavy budget cuts and foreign exchange controls to be introduced next week.

But the government said on Friday it had brought crude oil output back up to 1.5 million barrels per day, almost half of pre-strike levels. Striking oil employees say the output level is lower but acknowledge it has been rising.

The slow recovery in the oil industry comes as support for the strike in other sectors is clearly cracking.

Private banks have resumed regular operating hours, most shops have reopened and vehicles and pedestrians have returned to the streets of Caracas, although there are still shortages of gasoline and some food items.

Opposition leaders are demanding that more than 5,000 employees fired from the strike-hit state oil giant PDVSA be restored to their jobs as part of any election deal.

Chavez, who accuses the strikers of "sabotaging" the oil industry after backing a brief military coup against him last year, has so far ruled that out. He has condemned the strikers as "traitors" and said they should be jailed.

PDVSA President Ali Rodriguez said on Friday the government could end up firing as many as 6,000 company workers.

(Additional reporting by Patrick Markey)