Venezuela's opposition begins petition drive to seek Chavez's ouster

www.sfgate.com STEPHEN IXER, Associated Press Writer Sunday, February 2, 2003

(02-02) 18:23 PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez declared victory Sunday after his opponents eased a 2-month-old national strike, but hundreds of thousands of voters still signed petitions seeking his ouster.

"Today is a victorious day," the president said in his weekly television and radio program. "We have beaten once and for all a new destabilizing attempt, a new malevolent and criminal attempt to sink Venezuela."

Venezuela's opposition called the strike Dec. 2 to demand a nonbinding referendum on Chavez's presidency -- then upped the ante to demand Chavez's ouster.

Organizers delivered 2 million voter signatures in November to demand the referendum. But the Supreme Court indefinitely postponed it, citing a technicality.

Strike leaders said most businesses that joined the walkout would reopen on a limited or full-time basis this week to avoid bankruptcy. But they set up 4,000 tables nationwide Sunday to gather signatures for several petitions seeking Chavez's ouster.

Hundreds of thousands waited hours in the tropical sun to sign.

Albis Munoz, vice president of Venezuela's largest business chamber, claimed as many as 4 million people signed Sunday. The figure could not be verified. Organizers said they would collect more signatures Monday.

Under the constitution, 15 percent, or about 1.8 million, of the country's 12 million registered voters are needed to call for a referendum shortening the president's term.

Chavez said Sunday he never would give in to his opponents, whom he labeled "coup plotters, fascists and terrorists." He vowed to hold strike leaders accountable in the courts and again threatened private media outlets, which he accuses of supporting opposition efforts.

The strike continued in the vital oil industry, where production was cut from 3 million barrels a day to 150,000 at the height of the strike. Chavez said Sunday the government has boosted production to 1.8 million barrels a day, but striking workers put the number at 1 million.

Oil makes up a third of Venezuela's economy and provides half of government income. Before the strike, Venezuela was the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and a major supplier to the United States.

Four people were injured, including two police officers, when pro-Chavez protesters threw stones, fireworks and tear gas canisters near two petition tables in downtown Caracas, police chief Henry Vivas said.

The strike has cost the nation at least $4 billion. The Santander Central Hispano investment bank has warned that the economy could shrink by as much as 40 percent in the first quarter of this year.

One petition calls for a constitutional amendment reducing Chavez's term from six to four years, ending in 2004. Another would declare Chavez's presidential term over this year.

"We're looking for the fastest way to get out of this crisis," said Freddy Hurtado, 56, an advertising agent. "Given that the president is the cause of the crisis, we're going to get rid of him with our signatures."

The amendment route was one of two proposals made by Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President Jimmy Carter to end Venezuela's political deadlock. The other calls for a recall referendum on Chavez's rule halfway through his six-year term, in August.

Most small businesses never joined the strike, and many companies that closed because of security concerns have reopened their doors in recent days.