Diplomatic work falters in Venezuela-- OAS, Group of Friends have yet to broker a deal

Thursday, May 8, 2003 Posted: 1524 GMT (11:24 PM HKT)

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN.com-AP) -- After months of talks, diplomats trying to broker a peaceful end to Venezuela's political troubles have little to show for their efforts -- save for a moribund accord to end verbal insults.

The so-called Group of Friends of Venezuela made up of diplomats from six countries was created in January to help the Organization of American States broker a solution to Venezuela's crisis.

But Chavez's government embarrassed OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria by backing out of an April 11 deal for a referendum on Chavez's presidency.

It was a blow as well to the efforts of the six Friends -- Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States.

Government negotiators now say that opposition delegates at the OAS talks don't represent all sectors opposing Chavez and suggest the OAS-mediated talks be replaced by debate in the Chavez-dominated National Assembly.

Lawmakers, they say, are better suited for the task because they were elected by the people, while the delegates at the OAS talks are chosen by political parties.

No-insult agreement ignored

The six months of talks between Chavez's government and Venezuela's opposition have produced only an agreement in February to end verbal insults and political violence.

And even that pact has been forgotten.

The mudslinging reached a new low after an opposition general strike curbed Venezuelan oil production and cost the economy US$6 billion but failed to oust Chavez.

When a protester was slain during an opposition May Day march, Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel blamed the opposition and -- and added that government adversaries were obsessed with "necrophilia."

Interior Minister Gen. Lucas Rincon told cadets at a police academy graduation that opposition leaders were "brain-damaged" because of excessive expectations on fighting crime.

Carlos Ortega, a labor boss granted asylum in Costa Rica after leading the general strike, said Chavez was "not well in the head."

Chavez routinely assails what he calls a "fascist," "terrorist" and "coup-plotting" opposition. He has used vulgarities referring to body parts during nationally broadcast speeches to describe his enemies.

'It's the product of frustration'

It may be name calling, but it is a real obstacle to peace in this poverty-stricken nation that is a top U.S. supplier of oil, said Eliazar Diaz Rangel, director of the Caracas newspaper Ultimas Noticias.

The rhetoric is worse that in the 1960s, when Venezuela's military crushed a Cuba-backed leftist insurgency, Diaz Rangel said.

"Even in the difficult years when political crisis turned into combat, it didn't reach these levels," he said. "It's the product of frustration. ... This type of language is unprecedented in Venezuela, and I would go as far to say in Latin America as well."

Chavez, a former paratrooper who led a failed 1992 coup attempt, was elected president in 1998 and re-elected to a six-year term in 2000. His opponents accuse him of mismanaging the economy, dividing the country along class lines and becoming increasingly authoritarian.

The president says a reckless opposition is more interested in his unconstitutional ouster than helping govern.