sbs.com.au 14.6.2003. 15:48:54 At least 14 people have been injured in street battles between Venezuelan troops and police and supporters of President Hugo Chavez. The Chavez supporters had tried to disrupt an opposition rally in a poor area of the capital, Caracas, considered a government stronghold. Police and National Guardsmen in armoured personnel carriers used tear gas to disperse about 100 Chavez supporters before the bulk of the opposition marchers could arrive in the eastern Caracas neighbourhood of Petare. The Chavistas, as the president's supporters are known, fought back, throwing bottles, rocks, fireworks and petrol bombs at security forces. Venezuela is split between those who see Chavez as a champion of the poor and those who fear he is trying to remodel Venezuela in the style of Cuba's communist regime. Source: WorldNews

ARCHIVE Global Fact: Brazil is the world’s most indebted country with $US244.6 billion of external debt in 1999, followed by Mexico ($US 166 billion) and China ($US154.4 billion).

13 Jun 2003 22:12:18 GMT (Recasts with details, updates with more wounded) By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela, June 13 (Reuters) - At least seven people were wounded on Friday, four by gunfire, after Venezuelan police clashed with militant supporters of President Hugo Chavez who threatened to attack an opposition rally.

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.

Seven people, including three police officers, were injured, four with bullet wounds, Caracas Fire Services Chief Col. Rodolfo Briceno told Reuters.

It was the first outbreak of serious violence since the end of May when the government and opposition signed a peace deal recommending a referendum on Chavez's rule. Both sides quickly blamed each other for the fresh street clashes.

Political conflict over the government of populist Chavez has 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.

Ambulances evacuated patients from a nearby hospital to escape the tear gas as protesters and local residents scurried for cover. National guard troops in armored vehicles later stood by as pro-Chavez demonstrators ransacked and set fire to a small police post.

The violence erupted as a few thousand opposition party supporters rallied a block away to demand the referendum against 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.

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.

"It's either bullets or votes and we want the solution to be through votes," Copei president Eduardo Fernandez said.

<a href=www.voanews.com>VOA News - AP 13 Jun 2003, 22:07 UTC

Pedestrian asks for help after being shot by a rubber bullet during clashes between supporters of President Chavez and metropolitan police in CaracasVenezuelan authorities have fired tear gas to disperse dozens of government supporters who tried to disrupt an opposition rally in a Caracas slum. At least three people were injured.

Riot police and national guard troops took action Friday as pro-government demonstrators pelted them with rocks, bottles and firecrackers in the Petare neighborhood. Ambulances evacuated patients from a nearby hospital amid thick clouds of white tear gas.

While authorities clashed with the supporters of President Hugo Chavez, a block away opponents demanded a referendum on his rule. The opposition center-right COPEI party called Friday's protest the latest call for President Chavez to leave office.

Political tensions over the Chavez government have troubled Venezuela for months. Scores of people have been killed in street clashes and violence since April of last year when the president survived a brief coup.

In December, Mr. Chavez's opponents began a nationwide general strike in a failed bid to force him to resign and call new elections. The walkout ended in February.

Chavez critics accuse him of leading Venezuela toward economic ruin and trying to model the oil-rich country on communist-run Cuba. President Chavez blames the economic downturn on the failed strike. Venezuela's Central Bank says the economy fell 29 percent in the first three months of the year.

Reuters, 06.13.03, 1:35 PM ET CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - More than 18,000 Venezuelan oil workers fired for participating in an anti-government strike will not be allowed to return to their jobs despite a court ruling that they were illegally sacked, state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela said Friday. A Venezuelan court on Thursday ruled that rebel oil workers, fired during the December to January strike against leftist President Hugo Chavez, were covered by a state-decreed firing freeze at the time of their dismissals. But Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said the ruling did not order the reinstatement of the workers who were fired. "We are not ready to accept their return, those who abandoned their posts and failed in their duty with disastrous consequences for the country," a PDVSA statement said. "We will take the necessary measures to guarantee that our principal industry does not fall victim ever again to their anti-national interests," it added. PDVSA fired around half of its work force, including engineers, office workers and managers, for participating in the strike that plunged the oil-reliant economy deeper into recession. The government later used troops and loyal replacement workers to restart the oil sector. On Friday, more than 100 fired workers gathered outside a former PDVSA office in Caracas to celebrate the court decision, blowing whistles and chanting "We are united". "(The court decision) confirms that... the firings are, in addition to being unconstitutional, absolutely irregular," Horacio Medina, a leader of the oil workers' union Unapetrol told reporters. But Unapetrol representatives acknowledged that the government was likely to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court and that months of legal wrangling lay ahead. "It's a first step," one fired oil executive told Reuters at the gathering. The strike slashed the oil production of the world's No. 5 crude exporter for more than two months. Chavez opponents say his leftist "revolutionary" anti-poverty programs are destroying the economy and that he is attempting to impose Cuba-style communism in the OPEC nation.

Washington Times Combined dispatches and staff reports.

    CUBA     Official criticizes European countries     HAVANA — Cuba lashed out at the European Union yesterday, accusing the 15-nation bloc of serving U.S. interests through recent criticisms of the Fidel Castro government.     Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque accused Spain's government of funding dissident groups that Havana claims are being organized by the United States.     Later, the government urged Havana residents to join a protest planned for today outside the embassies of Spain and Italy.          VENEZUELA     U.S. revokes visa of anti-Chavez general     CARACAS — The United States has revoked the U.S. entry visa of a former Venezuelan army general who was dismissed for taking part in a coup last year against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the U.S. Embassy in Caracas said yesterday.     Gen. Enrique Medina Gomez, a former military attache at Venezuela's embassy in Washington, was also a ringleader of a nonviolent disobedience campaign in Caracas last October by more than 100 anti-Chavez military officers.