www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Proyecto Venezuela (PV) leader Henrique Salas Romer has gone public announcing a cooling-off with opposition Coordinadora Democratica (CD).

“There are differences of style … the CD should stop the war of words with President Chavez Frias … we must try to win over his supporters.”

The former (1998) presidential candidate accuses the “old guard” in Accion Democratica (AD) and the Christian Socialist (COPEI) party of using the opposition as a Trojan Horse to further their own political agendae.

In a biting analysis, Salas Romer claims that the opposition’s popularity has taken a dive down after the decision to unite and fight the President in hand to hand combat.

www.forbes.com Reuters, 03.12.03, 12:08 PM ET CARACAS, Venezuela, March 12 (Reuters) - Several dozen anti-government Venezuelan oil workers demonstrated outside Norway's embassy in Caracas Wednesday to protest a natural gas deal Norwegian oil firm Statoil <STL.OL> signed last month with the administration of President Hugo Chavez. The former employees of Venezuelan state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), fired for participating in a two-month strike aimed at forcing Chavez from office, said Statoil was putting its economic interests ahead of the interests of the politically divided South American nation. "We are protesting against companies that had long relationships with PDVSA which are taking advantage of the situation," Susana Ferraris, a former PDVSA trading manager, told Reuters. Statoil signed the contract to explore and develop the offshore Block 4 of the Deltana area, which included a $32 million bonus payment to the government, in February, when Chavez was sacking thousands of PDVSA employees who had joined the strike in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. The strike started Dec 2 and slashed oil output and exports, but petered out early last month and the government has been steadily restoring oil production. Foes of Chavez, who accuse the leftist leader of ruling like a dictator and destroying the economy, have been critical of the Deltana deal negotiated by the government. Carrying placards and blowing whistles in front of a western Caracas commercial center housing the embassy, the rebel PDVSA staff criticized the transparency of the Deltana negotiations involving Statoil. "Why are you unfairly taking advantage of a partner country? Is that the way you do your business?" read one placard. "They are doing business with a lying government, a dictator," Juan Conde, a former PDVSA manager, told Reuters. Statoil is also involved in Venezuela's multi-billion dollar Sincor synthetic oil project, initiated in the mid-1990s before Chavez was elected in late 1998. The ex-PDVSA workers said similar pickets could be held in front of other embassies whose companies have signed contracts with the Chavez administration, including the U.S. diplomatic compound. U.S. oil major ChevronTexaco (nyse: CVX - news - people) also signed a deal to develop a Deltana Block last month. PDVSA has enlisted pro-government replacement workers and troops to restart its strike-hit oil sector, which provides half of government revenues. Chavez is seeking to boost non-oil investment, especially in natural gas, to reduce the OPEC nation's heavy reliance on the volatile commodity.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 By: David Coleman

Rebel Confederation of Venezuelan Trade Unions (CTV) secretary general Manual Cova says the Chavez Frias government is continuing to use the Judiciary and the Official Ombudsman's Office in an effort to "cut the heads off" the Venezuelan opposition.

Cova says he has certain information that there have been attempts made against the life and physical well-being of CTV president Carlos Ortega ... "that's why we are making a formal accusation in public."

CTV Ortega remains in hiding, fugitive from a legal court order to appear to answer criminal charges over his leading role in a 2-month national stoppage aimed at crippling the Venezuelan economy and to force democratically-elected President Hugo Chavez Frias from office.  It is believed that Cova may already have fled the country.

Cova, however, says that the Chavez Frias government is attempting to create a climate of intimidation of opposition leaders to prevent them from continuing to lead the political movement.  He says the CTV is gaining the support of trade union organizations in Spain, Mexico, Portugal, the United States, Chile and Brazil to define ways out of the current political crisis in Venezuela.

www.vheadline.com Posted: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

The Venezuelan opposition has proposed to the Group of Friends meeting in Brazil to make Organization of American States (OAS) general secretary Cesar Gaviria a mediator in the continuing Venezuela political crisis.

Political observers suggest that the proposal would seem to indicate that the opposition is tiring and unable to come up with anything substantial and innovative, and now want to see the 6-nation Group of Friends exert more pressure on the government.

Opposition negotiator Timoteo Zambrano argues that changing Gaviria's status from facilitator to mediator will have a knock-on effect ... "we would like to see a mega-meeting with the presence of Jimmy Carter, Gaviria, a UN general secretary representative and foreign ministers from the six nations ... we are seeking a definite solution to the conflict."

Zambrano accuses the Chavez Frias government of increasing levels of violence persecuting its political enemies and attempting to change the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) constitution.

Placing the onus on the government, Zambrano says that, after four months of negotiations, it is time for the government to fulfill its obligation to solve the political crisis. Political observers say Zambrano is angling to position UN adviser Diego Arria ... a former protege of Carlos Andres Perez ... as a key player in the new negotiating ball game.

Speaking at the Group of Friends meeting, Brazil's interim Foreign Minister Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes has defended the thesis of maintain Gaviria as facilitator, while President Hugo Chavez Frias continues to lobby for the inclusion of France and Russia in the Group of Friends ... something the Brazilians have refused to agree to.

www.alertnet.org 10 Mar 2003 13:00 By Alistair Scrutton

CARACAS, Venezuela, March 10 (Reuters) - They disrupted Christmas. They froze Venezuela's oil lifeblood. They marched in their millions.

To little avail.

Vast numbers of Venezuelans who failed to force out leftist President Hugo Chavez with a huge strike are now in limbo. They are wondering what do to next and fearful of what may come as the nation, split along economic class and political fault lines, falls deeper in recession.

"Depressed isn't the word for it. I'm totally crushed," said Maria Jose Alonso, a brooding, out-of-work pharmacist who chatted in a restaurant about the two-month strike that petered out early last month. "Now Chavez is on the offensive."

Chavez, a former paratrooper who survived a bungled coup in April last year, took on and defeated the strike which slashed oil output in the world's No. 5 petroleum producer.

He has called his foes "oligarchs" out to destroy his self-styled "revolution" to help the poor.

"We thought the strike would push Chavez out in a week, ten days at most," Alonso said, flashing ten fingers in the air.

In December, she took part in demonstrations for the first time ever. Like many Venezuelans across the country, she spent Christmas banging pots and pans to protest against Chavez and to call for early elections.

Alonso's pessimism reflects a mood swing among the middle and upper classes, the backbone of the opposition whose marches often ended in street battles with Chavez's mainly poor supporters.

Trip wires still lie ahead -- from opposition calls for a referendum to fears the government could take over private TV stations -- that could spark further civil unrest. But many of Chavez's foes are soul-searching.

OPPOSITION IN DISARRAY

"There's disarray. The opposition aren't weaker in the sense they can still mobilize a lot of people. But most agree mobilizations are not the way," said Caracas-based political analyst Janet Kelly. "The debate is over what to do now."

Resigned, scared and depressed are some of the words Chavez' opponents use to describe their reaction to the fact that the president, whom they see as a power-hungry class warrior trying to turn Venezuela into a Cuba-style communist state, is still leading the country.

"Two months ago we were optimistic. Now it's all just so uncertain," said Tom Bokor, a systems auditor at the PVDSA state oil firm who was fired after he went on strike. He now supports his wife and three children with his savings.

Several million Venezuelans have participated in dozens of huge opposition marches over the last year. But polls show that the populist president could still win an election with around 30 percent support, if the opposition vote remained divided between anti-Chavez leaders.

Opponents fear a government counter-attack. Chavez has fired more than 15,000 striking state oil workers, and authorities have arrested businessman Carlos Fernandez, a strike leader, on rebellion charges. Detention orders have also been issued for several other strike organizers.

Unexplained bombs at Colombia and Spanish diplomatic buildings on Feb. 25 sparked fears of an upsurge in political violence.

"Maybe the only way out is flying to Miami but now I can't even buy dollars. I'm trapped," Alonso added, referring to currency controls introduced in February by Chavez to curb what he called the "dolce vita" of the rich.

PEOPLE MUST MAKE A LIVING

Caracas, a sprawling city nestled in lush mountains, is returning to the normalcy of chaotic Latin American capitals. Streets empty during the strike have filled up again with snarling traffic. Once-closed restaurants are busy, surrounded by gleaming sports utility vehicles tended by security guards.

Demonstrations are smaller now. One recent Sunday, protesters on gleaming motorbikes and draped in flags rode through a wealthy business district, but they numbered only a few hundred. Only several thousand people protested Fernandez' arrest.

"A lot of the opposition are shellshocked. They fired their biggest artillery and missed. They underestimated Chavez and now they're marched out," said one European diplomat.

Private TV stations, some of Chavez's most vocal opponents, still broadcast spots show flag-waving protesters calling for liberty and urging Venezuelans to keep up the fight against the president. But the images have little resonance on the streets.

Ice cream vendors outnumber visitors at the posh east Caracas Altamira square, a few months ago a hub of resistance to Chavez that teemed with students, office workers, military officers and housewives who gathered daily to protest.

"People have to make a living, you know, now the strike has ended," said Leonora Acevedo, a university teacher who has been protesting in the square for four months. She sat alone.

The opposition umbrella group, Coordinadora Democratica, is an alliance of interest groups ranging from unions and civic groups to a business federation. Their divided aims range from throwing out Chavez with military help to having a referendum,

"We need to refresh the movement," said Miranda State governor Enrique Mendoza, an opposition leader.

WAIT AND SEE

Meanwhile Caracas is in wait-and-see mode. Its inhabitants still talk about latent class hatred between the poor western and posh eastern halves of a city that may explode in unrest. Rich districts store arms and chains to mount barricades.

Chavez-loyal soldiers have confiscated the heavy weapons of the opposition-run Caracas metropolitan police. Soldiers stand guard outside police stations.

Downtown Caracas is a Chavez stronghold of street peddlers, run-down buildings, graffiti and garbage. The presidential palace is a heavily guarded mansion surrounded by troops and road blocks. But nearby his supporters seem confident.

"The people are with Chavez. They know he's fighting the rich who are responsible for all this mess," said Antonio Lopez, selling children's toys on a street corner.

A few miles away to the east the atmosphere is different.

"Don't Despair" reads one banner on the windows of an expensive dried flower shop in an upmarket Caracas mall.

"We feel hemmed in now," said Flor, a retired woman who said she was too worried about recriminations to give her full name. She strolled by the flower shop, her neck laden with jewelry. "But don't count us out. We'll be back."