Chavez opponents turn efforts to petition drive

www.orlandosentinel.com By Stephen Ixer | The Associated Press Posted February 2, 2003

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Opponents of President Hugo Chavez began focusing on a petition drive to cut his term in power, after agreeing to ease a two-month strike that has crippled Venezuela's economy.

Opposition leaders plan to hold what they call the "Great Sign-up" today, inviting citizens to sign initiatives rejecting Chavez's government and seeking his ouster.

The opposition hopes one petition in particular -- a constitutional amendment to reduce Chavez's term from six to four years -- will succeed, paving the way for general elections later this year.

Under the constitution, organizers need signatures from 15 percent, or about 1.8 million, of the country's 12 million registered voters -- a number they expect to easily surpass.

"Our idea is to get 5 million signatures," Carlos Ocariz, a member of the opposition party Justice First, said Saturday on Globovision television.

The amendment was one of two proposals made by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The other is to hold a recall referendum on Chavez's rule halfway through his six-year term, in August. The opposition also will collect signatures for this initiative.

Representatives from the United States, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal and Spain met in Caracas on Friday to urge both sides to accept one of Carter's proposals and bring Venezuela's prolonged crisis to a swift end.

The six-nation "Group of Friends" said the government and the opposition must make concessions during negotiations mediated by Cesar Gaviria, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States.

Strike organizers, who began the protest Dec. 2 to pressure Chavez into accepting a referendum on his rule, said they would ease the work stoppage this week to protect businesses against bankruptcy.

The strike has cost at least $4 billion in lost oil revenues alone, the government estimates.

Effects of the strike remain greatest in the vital oil industry, which makes up a third of the economy and provides half of government income.

Despite government efforts to restart the industry, production remains just more than 1 million barrels a day, or about a third of pre-strike levels.