Three wounded as Venezuela police, rioters clash

13 Jun 2003 19:52:58 GMT By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela, June 13 (Reuters) - At least three people were wounded on Friday, two by gunfire, after Venezuelan police clashed with militant supporters of President Hugo Chavez.

Police fired volleys of gas canisters, sending white stinging clouds wafting through the streets of the eastern Petare neighborhood after a few hundred Chavez sympathizers pelted them with bottles, stones and fireworks.

One police officer and one civilian were wounded by gunfire and another officer was injured by a thrown object, Caracas Fire Services Chief Col. Rodolfo Briceno told Reuters.

Ambulances evacuated patients from a nearby hospital to escape the tear gas as protesters and local residents scurried for cover into side streets.

A block away, a few thousand opposition party supporters rallied to demand a referendum on the mandate of Chavez, whom they blame for driving Venezuela into political and economic ruin.

"Chavez has to go. He's done nothing but trick us. He talks but never delivers," said Nelida Sanoja, an unemployed secretary carrying a huge green flag of the Copei Christian Democratic party.

Political tensions over the government of populist Chavez have troubled Venezuela for more than 18 months. At least 50 people have been killed in street clashes and violence since April last year when Chavez survived a short-lived coup.

Last month, one man was shot to death and around 20 wounded by gunfire in an opposition rally in another impoverished pro-Chavez district in the west of the capital.

"It's either bullets or votes and we want the solution to be through votes," Eduardo Fernandez, president of Copei told local television at the rally.

His opponents accuse the president of dragging Venezuela toward Cuban-style communism. But the fiery leader brands his foes rich elites bent on scuttling the reforms he says are aimed at tackling poverty in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

Chavez, who weathered a two-month opposition strike ended in February, has vowed to press on with his self-styled revolution. Opposition leaders hope to cut short his mandate with a referendum after Aug. 19 -- halfway through his current term, which is due to end in early 2007.